


Universal Holiday (Inktober 2019)

by Zsterwriter14



Series: Inktober prompts [2]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ash - Freeform, Bait, Catch, Coat - Freeform, Dark, Enchanted - Freeform, Frail, Inktober 2019, M/M, Misfit - Freeform, Overgrown, Ripe, Snow, Swing, Tasty, Tread, ancient, build, dizzy - Freeform, dragon - Freeform, freeze - Freeform, ghost - Freeform, husky - Freeform, injured, legend, mindless, ornament, pattern - Freeform, ride - Freeform, ring, treasure, wild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-11-09 05:30:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 21,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20848310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zsterwriter14/pseuds/Zsterwriter14
Summary: 31 prompts.Thirty one days in OctoberWay too much free-time.This is 31 drabbles set outside of the Cannon-verse of Katekyou Hitman Reborn.Hopefully





	1. Day 1: Ring

**Author's Note:**

> This drabble is set in the Sentimentality/Soulmate au.  
Just so you know.

"Where did you get that?" Verde questioned abruptly, interested green eyes locked on what hung from Skull's necklace. The others looked away from their planning in favor of their cloud who blinked at the scientist with confusion. 

"Where did who get what?" Skull asked, glancing down at his chest before shooting the lightning an even more confused look. 

Viper followed the scientists gaze and had to flare their flames just to make sure there wasn't foreign mist flames at work. When the sight in front of them remained the same, Viper couldn't help gawking a bit. " The ring. Where did _you_ get it?" They demanded. It was obviously a familia ring, though not one they immediately recognized, old and ornate with a odd colored stone that flickered in time with the stuntman's heartbeat. Familia Rings, especially flame conductive ones were rare and thus valuable. For a civilian to have one as old looking as that was suspicious. 

The stuntman placed a startled hand over the ring, as if surprised they noticed it. For a moment there seemed to be another person looking at them, but it faded too fast to be sure. The stuntman smiled, pulling the ring up so they all could get a good look at it. "It's a family heirloom." He said, his eyes flickering flame bright for a just a second.


	2. Day 2: Mindless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set in the Shifter Au! Cause my poor au needs some love.

Reborn kept a firm hand on the large muzzle trying to press itself into his face, scowling at Verde, "What did you say happened?" He asked flatly, ignoring the feeling of the wolf's wet tounge lapping at his fingers. 

Verde squinted at the hitman as he rubbed a cloth over his slobber covered glasses, his green hai half slicked down against his head. "Skull assisted me in a drug trial. I had intended to synthize a compuond capable of surpress in the baser instincts that prompts a shifter's abilities and animal hind mind in an attemot to supress their shiftig ability temporarily." He scientist staed, holding his glasses up to the light. "It did the opposite." 

Reborn gave the scientist a flat look as he pressed a hand to the wolf's forehead, pushing the canine back a tad. "So you accidentally supressed his human half instead," He summerised, looking at Skull as the wolf whinned like a dog. _He wasn't going to subcome to the sad puppy dog eyes, he wasn't_. 

"Unintentionally," Verde stated pointedly, putting his mostly clean glasses back on. Reborn cringed away from the wet line of dog slobber as the wolf licked his face. He fisted one hand in the thick fur and tugged the canine away. "It should wear off in a few hours." 

"Wonderful," Reborn grouched as the wolf nosed off his fedora. The annoying _dog_ had bullied him onto the floor with the rest of the available Pricnisette and now had uninhibited acsess to all of them. _It was either comply or be jumped on by a 200 pound wolf with cloud flames. Reborn knew when resistance was futile._ He narrowed his eyes at the docile burnished orange and black living pillow Verde leaned against. "What's wrong with Fon?" 

Verde paused, one of his free hands threaded throuh Fon's fur. The tiger lifted his head to give Reboen a long stare. "Skull was very insistant," Verde said plainly, rubbing a hand over the storm's ears to the tiger's apparent pleasure. 

Reborn frowned for a moment before he had to redouble his efforts to keep the wolf away from his face, one hand rubbing at his mouth. _God forsaken shifters._


	3. Day 3: Bait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is from an unfinished story where the cast of Khr are magical beings/ creatures.  
Tsuna is also not related to Vongola but still a sky. He's a harpy fledgling who ran away from home and has been living on the streets of Namimori since he was small. _He's still small_

He knew it was a trap, he wasn't stupid enough to believe someone just left a fish in the middle of their lawn for fun. The fish had been cut along it's belly and even from the wall he could smell how fresh it was. Tsuna shifted from one foot to the other, his wings flicking in and out, one hand pressed to his stomach. 

He _knew_, but he was hungry. It had been a few days since he'd managed to catch something and people were starting to catch onto his presence. He crouched lower on the wall, nibbling on the inside of his lip with sharp teeth. He could probably manage to snatch the fish before any trap was set off, but... 

His stomach growled painfully, and Tsuna firmed his resolve. His anxious fidgeting stopped, his wings spreading in preparation. 

With one last confirming look around to make sure he hadn't missed anything obvious the first time, Tsuna leaped from the wall with two big flaps. 

For a moment it looked like he was wrong about the trap, fish in his talons as he preped to return to the wall. 

Then a familiar bundle of feathers, puppy, and rain smell crashes into him and he's pinned to the grass. His wings are trapped between his back and his captors chest and he shrieks with displeasure as he tries to wriggle out of their hold. The fist is still tightly held in his talons, but he can't reach it now. 

"Dad! Dad! it worked!" His captor cheered, lifting clear Tsuna off the ground, the tiny harpy still trapped in his embrace. Tsuna slumped with resignation, hissing petulantly. He only wanted the fish, but maybe he should have eaten the stupid bird-dog when he had had the chance. 

* * *

The older rain stepped out onto the back porch to the sight of his hainu son looking proud and the harpy fledgling that had tried to fly off with him not even a week ago hanging sulkily from his hold. The fist he had somehow misplaced this morning is held in the baby harpy's taloned feet. He sighed internally before waving his son towards the open door. "Better take him inside before he figures his way out, Takeshi." He said, suppressing a laugh at the fledgling's startled look of horror. "Come on, you caught him so he's your responsibility if you intend for him to stay with us." 

"Right!" Takeshi chirped over the fledglings started 'I'm not a pet!', his tail wagging excitedly. The poor fledgling wilted as he was lugged inside, muttering under his breath about 'stupid fish' and 'should've eaten him when he had the chance.' Tsuyoshi hopes he won't regret this.


	4. Day 4: Freeze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This from my Reverse ABO au.

"Hey! Gokudera, "Takeshi called whne he spotted the silverette, waving inan attempt to get his attention. The beta punk didn't move, eyes locked on the door to the dispanary council office. Takeshi jogged up to him, a real smile on his face. "I couldn't find Tsuna, but not suprising...Uh, you okay Gokudera?" 

The beta was still staring at the door, but now that Takeshi was closer he could see the grey pallor too the italians already pale skin. Takeshi could just barely hear some sort of commotion on the otherside of the door, and he had a a good idea what was going on. Takeshi had two real choices on his hand, he could either lead his friend away and wait out his shock or... 

_Well_, Takeshi already played with death earlier this month, and he surivived that. 

Takeshi put a hand on Gokudera's shoulder, reaching across to nudge the door open. He felt the punk tense under his hand, a garbled yell spluttering out. Takeshi hummed shifting his hold to keep the punk still. 

Unsprisingly, Hibari senpai and Tsuna are in the middle of... well, they were well into their courtship, that was for sure. Gokudera made a inarticulate noise that was somewhere between 'Juudime' and 'bastard', the pale skin going bright red. Takeshi swallowed a laugh, leaning into the room. "Hey Hibari-Senpai! Class is almost over, can we have Tsuna back?" He vaugley heard Gokudera hiss something insukting in italian, if his tone meant anything. 

Tsuna whined when Hibari pulled away to glare at them, the two of them lying down on one of the two couches. Both of their lips were bitten red and Hibari's eyes were blown with somehing Takeshi was decidedly not going to think about with his best friend under the prefect. Hibari sat up and looked at the clock, the space in the room growing heavier wih each secondthe room was quiet. 

Takeshi smiled to hide the subtle fear creeping up his spine. 

Tsuna blinked out of his..._daze_, looking at the two of them upside down for a long moment. Takeshi smiled wider at Tsuna's intense flush and narrowing eyes. Somehow conveying his immense disaproval while being straddled. 

"Hayato, Takeshi." 

"Y-yes Juudiame?" Gokudera sputtered out, elbowing Takeshi in the ribs. Takeshi hissed out between his teeth, letting go of the silverette as he started backing up. 

"Theres at least ten minutes left. You should run." Tsuna said, mercfully reaching up to grab the front of Hibari's uniform. He tugged the other omega down, distracting the prefect from the clock. 

Takeshi grabbed Gokudera, and bolted.


	5. Day 5: Build

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shifter Au! Because I like Mukuro and as a mafia baby has not encountered any shifters until Tsunayoshi and Hibari.

Mukuro staared listlessly at the celing, each breath labored under the weight on his chest. His arms are bound on his chest and ache with the wounds inflicted by his fight with the decimo. His whole body aches from it, searing burns and bone deep bruises littering his body. His head still trobbed from the possesion bullet and his abrupt disconnection from his victems, his eye stiging from oversue. 

He almost regrets going after the decimo, it having lead the vindice right to him after all. _The young vulnerable part of himself still shivers when he thinks about his time in vindicare._

The door to his borrowed room opened carefully, the lion-eared decimo leans into the room quietly. His wild amber eyes light up with a smile when he saw Mukuro, looking bafleing happy to see him awake. "Rokudo-san, you're awake," The decimo cheered quietly, padding into the room on silent human feet. "Ken-kun and Chikusa-kun are downstair eating." 

Mukuro looked at the kid who had practically smashed him the ground only to turn around and confront the _Vindice_ for him and can barely stop himself from staring. He didn't _understand_ him. He couldn't understand how someone forgive like him, especially when Mukuro was never going to apologize for what he did. He watched a bit helplessly, arms bandaged and body sore, as the decimo walked over and scooped the large but skinny black cat off of his chest gently. The little skull shaled pendent chiming against the silver ID tag reading Chrome Dokuro. He is a bit bereft without the cat's warm furry weight and he sits up to follow before he can help it. 

Tsunayoshi stared at him, the felines he possesed all to similar to the sleepy one blinking from within the decimos arms. "You can come down if you feel up to it, or not. Chrome would like if you do though." 

Mukuro blinks at him, wondering if the Vongola's last heir was stupid. "Chrome is a cat," He points out, his head too jumbled for clever retorts at the moment. 

Tsunayoshi's eyes _gleamed_ as he stood up. "Chrome is a cat like I am a lion, and Skull a wolf," He said with a catlike smile before he left. Mukuro stared after him, half wondering who Skull was and half realising that cat Chrome was probably the one eyed girl he had seen in his dreams. The whole shifter thing is confusing and asinine, he decided, lieing back down to stare at the celing again. He's 90 percent sure that failing to possess the decimo was the best mistske he's ever made.


	6. Day 6: Husky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soulmate au! The one with mafia skull.

Verde looked over the reading again, knocking on Skull's door with his freehand. It was the results of the flame test he had conducted on the stuntman earlier that morning and the results were baffling. 

He didn't look up right away when the door opened, making sure he was reading things correctly, "Skull, I have a question about your fl-"Verde paused as he looked up, mouth caught open with surprise. 

Reborn stood in front of him, shirtless with a darking bruises on his exposed tan skin, eyes distinctly unamused. The hitman's hair was mused like a certain someone had run their hands through it and there was very telling purple lipstick smeared across his lips. The italain leaned into the doorway with a humorless smile and crossed his arms, his eyes promising a painful death. "Why'd you stop? It was obviously important enough to bother _Bello_ so late at night," The hitman growled in a rougher version of his usual suave baritone. 

Verde wrinkled his nose in distaste, shoving his confusion down behind his distaste for the Hitman. "I ..apologize," Verde gritted out, looking away from the Hitman. "I'll leave you two alone." 

Rebron gave him one last scathing look before pushing off of the door frame. Verde watches silently as the Hitman slams the door shut behind him, and Verde cant help but wonder after the purple and amber flash of a soulmark covering the expance of Reborn's back. He didn't have enough information yet, but just maybe... 

Verde walks away, ignoring the sounds behind him. He could figure it out later, let them have their time together.


	7. Day 7: Enchanted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/b/o Au.....Poor poor Tsuna. You should have been more discerning about your friend choices.

"I still don't see why we needed to wear traditional wear." Tsuna whined, pulling at the obi she had bullied him into, an amber clam shell patterned one that his mother claimed he had inherited from his father's family. It matched nicely with his pale orange kimono, he guessed though the clam pattern was weird considering his family name meant something like rice paddies if he remembered. "Or at least why _I'm_ wearing a kimono, I haven't presented yet?!" 

Hanna ignored his complaints with the ease of long practice, slapping the back of his hand with her fan. "First off, this is a festival that is run by the Hibari family and I am not giving your gay crush an excuse to 'bite me to death' when I'm wearing my favorite Kimono." She stated, dark eyes flashing as she gestured to her lovely red patterned Kimono. He could feel his face flush and he opened his mouth to say..._anything_ to contradict her only to fold under her glare. It was the same look that had gotten him put into a kimono in the first place, and it spoke of a dangerous future for one Sawada Tsunayohi if he challenged Kurokawa Hana. 

"And?" Kyoko asked innocently. Tsuna inched back from Hana the moment her gaze fell on Kyoko, putting the pretty beta between him and Hana. 

"And if I was going to bet money on something it wouldn't be on your presentation." Hana said dismissively, though her tone was strange "You smell like honey cakes and caramel. If you're not an Omega I'll be surprised." Tsuna narrows his eyes at his fearsome female friend, glancing at Kyoko who was suddenly very interested in the sakura pattern on her sleeves. A familar dread settles in under his constant embarrassment that seemed to live in his chest. 

"Hana, have you bet money on me?" He asked semi-hysterically, hands threading into his pinned back hair. Kyoko giggled a bit helplessly next to him, looking the picture perfect girl people thought she was. Of course considering the fact she was friends with him and Hana, the social outcast and the scariest girl in school. 

"Not on your presentation, It's a sucker's bet Sawada-_chan_," She said, walking ahead to start checking out the stalls. Tsuna grabbed Kyoko and followed after her, frowning at his friend. "Anyone with a brain can see that." Her tone was the same she used when she call their alpha and male beta peers monkeys. 

Tsuna pouted, his face still red with embarrassment, but also because Kyoko had clasped his hand. "What _did_ you bet on?" He asked suspiciously, watching as Hana looked around the crowds. He had a suspicion he really hoped was wrong. 

Hana pouted back at him in a playfully mocking mannor, flicking her fan closed. Her eyes flicked up and down the stalls between meeting Tsuna's glare. "Your love life, obviously. The baseball monkey doubted my romantic instincts." She admitted with a huff. 

"Hie..Takeshi-kun?" He blurted, looking at Kyoko for conformation. She giggled at him, eyes shinning with delight. 

"Yamamoto-kun was very skeptical." She confirmed with a innocently evil smile, and Tsuna was sure who had egged his friends bet on. 

"Kyoko-Chan-" Tsuna started betrayed, only to be cut of by Hana's triumphant 'hah!'. "Wha? Hana-chan?" He asked only to be dragged away by his arm. 

"I almost thought he wasn't here," Hana muttered, a firm grip on Tsuna's elbow. Dread lodged in his chest as he tripped over his own feet, Kyoko followed behind them having let him go. 

"Who? " He whined, looking around to see who she was talking about though he had a good idea. He caught a glimpse of purple hydrangeas and an amethyst colored obi before he was being shoved forwards into someone's chest, their strong hands grabbing his shoulders. 

"Him." She called cheerily, "Sorry, senpai but my friend wanted to talk to you." Tsuna could barely hear Kyoko's fading 'Hana-chan' over the rush of blood in his ears. His nose was full of the smell of green tea, cold steel, and blood lust; the smell that lingered all over his school building that belonged to one person in particular. 

"...Little Animal," A familiar voice rumbled, and Tsuna wondered how much blood he could spare for his face before he fainted. 

"I-i am so sorry for crowding Hibari-senpai" He stuttered, pulling away from the Namimori prefect with what had to be a fearsome blush. He wasn't sure if his body was capable with dealing with the heady mix of fear and attraction running through him. He kept his gaze firmly on his own feet, fidgeting with the edge of his obi again. 

"Well, you wanted to say something, little animal?" He asked in the low non-nonsense voice tone. Tsuna startled, looking up and he felt his breath stutter in his chest. Tsuna had known in head that Hibari was an Omega, he could smell it right now, but now it was readily apparent for anyone with _eyes_. Usually he wore his uniform, even when they weren't in school, the fluttering black gyakuran following behind him as he prowled the city. But now... 

_Kami, he was so gay._

Hibari was dressed in beautiful Kimono covered in hydrangas and clouds that stood stark against the prefects pale skin. A expertly tied obi wrapped around his slender waist, a deep purple with little skylarks printed on it. His dark hair had been pinned away from his face and Tsuna couldn't help but stare at his piercing grey eyes. He might have whimpered, "You're so pretty, sweet Kami help me." Tsuna muttered helplessly, eyes wide. 

The fearsome smile Hibari gave him made him wish for mercy.Whether from the gods or the fearsomely pretty omega in front of him, he wasn't sure. 

"You look fit to be bitten." Hibari purred. Tsuna wasn't sure his heart could take this.


	8. Day 8: Frail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Shifter Au.

Collonello didn't exactly get a lot of freetime on Mafia Land. If he wasn't running failed Mafioso through the wringer he was organizing the patrols, or reading over the defence reports. He didn't mind the work, it was better than laying around pinning for his other rain or working for one specific mafia family. 

That said, he was currently taking a weekend for himself while the themepark/resort on the island was down for its yearly matienance. He had staked out a portion of free beach where he now lounged, watching falco drift on the sea breeze above him. It was calm and as much as Collonello appreciated the bustle of mafia land and everything, he could- 

"Heeeeey Collonello," A horribly familiar voice chirped from far too close, a familiar flickering flame presence to his right. Collonello swore withing the saftey of his own head. "Howsit goin." 

"How did you get here-Kora?" Collonello asked, refusing to look at him. That would make itnreal and he was on break damnit. "The island's closed for visitors formthe next week." 

"The Great Skull is aware," the stuntman said cheerily, and Collonelll knew he was sitting on his towel right next to him. He could see the purple glow out of the corner of his eye, meshing with the blue of Collonellos own pacifier. "Mammon was hired to help bolster the flame barrier and let me tag along." 

"Who?" Collonello demanded, risking a glance to the stuntman. He was taken aback to see that instead of his usual jumpsuit and helmet, Skull was wearing a cutesy purple Hawaiian shirt and octopus patterened swim trunks, the model of a child on vaction to the beach, his ears canted with humor. The stuntman smiled at him, showing off his overly sharp canines that never failed to unnerve Colonello. Any thought of asking after this 'Mammon', fading to the background. 

"An old friend of the great Skull," The stuntman said blithely, and Collonello wondered exactly what he did to deserve Skull De Mort in his life. He pressed his face into his knees with a groan. Was it befriending Reborn? Underestimating Lal? _Was it leaving the military in favor of a life of aiding the criminal underworld?_

Whatever it was, let it be known Collonello is _very_ sorry...."Stop patting my head De Mort." 

"No." 

Really truely sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was writing this when I remeber that most of the Arcobaleno, or at least Collonello amd Reborn thought Viper died. Somehow they never connected Viper with Mammon before the Varia battles??? I don't know, its weird.   
_The frail thing is Collonellos sanity here. Skull likes to mess with him eversince they first met. Collonello is low key scared of skull's wolf half. High key terrified._


	9. Day 9: Swing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Monster au.  
....  
...  
Tsuna is based off of what I know about harpies from myths. Keep that in mind please.

Tsunayoshi gave the swingset a skeptical look, his wings fluffing beihind him in agitation. It looked very..._unsafe_, what with the chains so close to where he was to perch, and what exactly was he supposed to do with such a seat? 

"Well?" Takeshi prompted eagarly, looking between Tsuna and the swingset excitedly. His friend had a soft enchantment over him that made him resemble a normal boy instead of a haninu hybrid for once, though why anyone would give uo their wings to look normal he couldn't tell you. Tsuna scrunched his nose, crossing his thin arms across his chest. 

"What do you do with it? It doesn't look all that fun to perch on," Tsuna complained, though he eyed the top bar consideringly. 

It makes it feel like your flying! You sit on it and move your legs to swing back and forth." Takeshi said brightly, immune to Tsuna's negativity. 

Tsuna gave his friend a disbelieving look, mantaling his wings so that they were noticible. "I already fly! I'm a Harpy! You've seen me fly!?"Tsuna exclaimed when Takeshi didn't catch on. He gave the swaying playground toy a acidic glare, "I also don't sit. I perch." Mostly because his tailfeathers were nice and stiff for flying, bur also because perching was felt right. 

The human looking Haniu pup looked at Tsuna, looked at the swingset, and then turned back to Tsuna with his beight smile. "Maaa, Wanna perch on the top and hunt while _I_ swing?" Takeshi asked woth a cheerful smile. "That way we're still together like dad told us to do!" 

Tsuna blinked, his wings relaxing against his back. He had been convinced Takshi would have abandoned him, but... He looked over the playground and the swingset contemplating. He was mostly seeing hiw many adults there were, and the number of unattended dogs and small children. Nodding to himself he crouched down and spread of his wings, shaking his fluffed feathers back into place. "Okay," He said jumping into the air with a hard flap of his wings. 

Takeshi cheered, running over to the open swing as Tsuna fluttered his up to the top, black talonds latching onto the metal bar tightly. 

It was a pretty great perch, Tsuna decided watching his friend kick rhythmically to gain momentum. He coukd see tons of options for an early lunch.


	10. Day 10: Pattern

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soulmate/sentementality au  
I had a migrain that took up so many hours of my day, sorry.

Tsuna stared at the purple clad not-baby who was being gently fussed over by Reborn, the usually sadistic hitman tilting the cloud's head side to side. He hadn't been to surprised that Reborn had gone back to Tsuna's half after they broke the curse, Tsuna was particularrly looking forewards to lyig down and sleeping until next _year_. 

No, the surprising thing was the fact he grabbed Skull and dragged the fhalf beaten Stuntman back with him. Mostly because he had gotten the impression they hated each other? Or at least Skull hated Reborn? 

Tsuna winced as his mother applied disinfectant to his cuts, looking away from the Ex-arcobaleno to pout at his mother. He can see his mom pass the bottle to Reborn fro, the corner of his eye, the hitman taking it wih a quiet grazí. Tsuna leaned away from the bandage with a disgruntled 'Kaa-san', takig it from his mother's fingers. He kinda gets why Reborn would be worried, Skull had been low keyed destroyed by the Vindice for his watch, but he looked fine to Tsuna's relunctently experienced eyes. 

"_Lyubimaya_," Skull said quietly but..._fondly?_ in a foreign language before switching to a newly familiar italian, startling Tsuna enough to jab himself in a open cut. He yanked his hand back with a hiss, frowning at his mother and the not-baby duo. "**Stop. Ren, I am fine. Dino is okay, Tsuna is right there.**" Tsuna can feel his intuition nudgeing somehing at the Stuntman's soft but firm voice, the familiar candence of the italian...But where had he heard it? 

Reborn makes a low noice in the back his throat, tiny hand clenching around the gauze as dark eyes flick to Tsuna before locking on the Stuntman's purple eyes. "**_Bello_, what were you thinking allying with the Simon familia? The familia would have jumped at the chance to help you if you had only asked." Reborn scolded, eyes flashing. "**Even Tsunayoshi wouldn't be so stupid.**" **

Tsuna pouted, rude, see if Tsuna ever broke a millenia long curse for you again. Though, pet name caught his attention, and his intuion wasn't letting go. Where had he heard that before. 

Skull rolled his eyes at Reborn, Tsuna felt a part of his soul die of shock because What. Reborn was not to be triffled with. "**That would have been too obvious Ren. Why wouldn't poor civilian Skull De Mort beg the new familia to help? I wasn't going to stop the game just because the Vindice got a more prominant role.**" He said as if that was obvious, but he reached towards Reborn with a wry smile. "**Plus, I wanted to see if your boys could win. The family could always use more allies.**. Reborn snorted but grabbed the stuntman's hand in return, pulling their clasped hands to his lips. _Weird as it was knowing they weren't actually children, it was still unnerving to see babies acting like adults in a romantic relationship._

It hit Tsuna then, and he felt as stupid as people called him to have missed it before then. He turned to the two fully, eyes wide, "You're Reborn's soulmate! The one he kept calling every week!" Tsuna almost yells, his throat sore from the exercise. 

The two Ex-arcobaleno turn to him, Reborn looking unimpressed and Skull bemused. "You taught him better than I thought, Ren-kun." Skull said in accented Japanese, shooting Reborn a cheeky smile, "Tsuna-chan has met me, what all of once before this?" Tsuna wrinkled his nose at the stuntman, a bit uncomfortable with the stuntmans ready familiarity. Though it was better than being call Decimo by everyone all the time. 

"Not nearly enough." Reborn said with that tone that meant Tsuna was in for more Spartan training in his future. He whinned, slumping as much as his sore body would allow him to, _what did he do wrong??_ "A mafia boss should know when to keep his thoughts to himself." 

Skull snorted, "You're just mad he figured you out." The stuntman teased, rubbing his tiny tumb over the back of Reborn's hand, "You can't fight that Hyper intuition, возлюбленный" 

Tsuna wondered if this mild disgust feeling mixed woth fondeness was what kids usually felt when confronted with their parental figure being cute with someone. Because it was grossly cute. 


	11. Day 11:  Snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shifter au.
> 
> I have a associative knowledge of Japan, so I might be wrong but I belive Hokkaido is the province with all the snow. Ive done a bit of research on this. But its also a drabble. So i also don't care that much.

"How?" Reborn asked, pulling his scarf tighter around himself as he glared at Skull. "Did you convince me to go to Hokkaido durring _winter_ break with Tsuna and his gaurdians?" Reborn had been forced to put on a full body suit made for _children_, because it was so cold for someone of his size. Reborn wasn't even a fan of snow, not when it was taller than him and it was this far from civilisation. 

Skull was nearly vibrating with excitement, his ears perked forwards and a wild grin on his face. The wolf shifter was standing in a pair of thin shorts and his collar, he might be shivering know that Reborn thought about it. The stuntman looks over with a smug glint to his smile, "I wanted to go to Russia, to expose Tsuna and co to some of the wild shifter clans but you argued me down to a Hokkaido vacation." Skull said with tone so sweet Reborn felt his teeth rotting. 

Reborn scowled. 

Skull smiled wide in a way that showed off his wolf sharp canines. 

Reborn opened his mouth about to say something. 

Skull turned to face behind them, "Hey Tsuna! Ready to run wild?" He exclaimed in the kind of voice that stoked your own excitement. Reborn turned, not suprised to see his student shivering in shorts and his own collar behind him with the Hibari looking mutionous. Tsuna's human gaurdians were wearing heavy winter gear, color coded to their flame type. 

"Y-yeah," Tsuna chattered, his flames sparkling especially brightly in his hair surrounded by his gaurdians as he was. 

"Hurry up small Carnivore." Hibari snarled, his eyes flashing feline gold. 

"Alright! Rules of play! We are going to be doing some hunting practice! Love bites and sheathed claws only _Hibari_. No weapons, No explosives, I'm looking at you Gokudera-kun, and limited uses of flames." Skull stated in a playfully authoritative tone, before eyeing them all with a serious expression. "If you're feeling cold, tell Reborn and go inside. We are here to have fun. Frostbite and Hypothermia are not fun. Am I understood." 

Reborn was reluctently impressed by Skull's ability to commarnd compliance while sounding like a two year old. The kids nodded, the two who were called out looking chagrined to the others amusement. "Hai Skull-sama." Tsuna said softly, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he shivered. 

"Great! Humans get a ten minuet headstart! Go!" Skull called, waving them off. 

The humans blinked at the two of them for a moment, looking at each oher in confusion. Reborn rolled his eyes before pulling out his favorite non-leon gun. He fired a shot into the air, starlting everyone, "He said go." Reborn said in the sickly sweet tone that he knew made Dino shudder to this day. 

The human went with a mixture of scared whimpers and excited yells, running out into the snow covered valley. Skull snickered behind his hand, the stuntman sneaking pleased glances at Reborn. Reborn rolled his eyes as he changed out his ammo for rubber bullets. No one said he couldn't have his own fun. 

"You two can go," Skull said after a minute, waving forwards. "Keep them on their toes." Hibari and Tsuna didn't wait a second, going from teenagers to the juvinile predators they hid under human skin. Two blurs bounded past him and Skull, Amber bright and inky black fur bright against the pale snow. The nearest human, Gokudera by the bright red snow park went down under Tsuna's playful pounce with a colorful menagerie of swears. Hibari stalking after Mukuro's indigo coat. 

Skull let out a whistful sigh, his smile relaxing. "**I missed this. The snow, the mountains, being outside in the wild,**" He said in italian with a nostolgic look in his eyes. Reborn frowned, looking at the stuntman, because where did this come from. "**I spent so long as a wolf just living out in the wilds of Russia.**" 

"**You went got stuck?**" Reborn asked, because that was what it sounded like. 

Skull looked at him wide eyed, as if surprised Reborn figured it out. There was a small pleased smile on Skull's mouth, and a fond sort of look in the wolves eyes. Reborn looked away first, looking over the kids playing in the snow. Skull snorted, "**For a bit. The..uh.. Vindice shook me out of it.**" Skull said, and Reborn understood the freaked tone that came into the stuntman's voice. Rebron shivered just at the thought, and the cold, because it was still freezing. 

Tsuna looked back towards the cabin, making a growling chirping noise, his fur sparkling with snow and flames. "<;>I've been summoned. Shoot me and I'll eat your fedora." Skull said, patting Reborn's shoulder. One second he was human, the next a purple wolf lept out into the snow with a bark. The shreds of Skull's shorts floating like little singed confetti around Reborn's head. 

Reborn's first shot hit the Wolf in the back of his head. No one threatened Reborn. 

Wolf or no wolf.


	12. Day 12: Dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soulmate/Sentimentality au

Renato looked over the info the Caracassa had given him with one hand, the other resting on Cherep's back where his Soulmate was sprawled over his lap, doing reading of his own. The combat leader was humming to himself, idly kicking his legs like a teenaged girl. He frowned at the info they had on the man introduced as Verde, the man seemed to be a genuis with little to no actual morals. Deffinantly one for unethical human expirmentaion and probably too curoius for his own good. 

"I'm seeing a lot of promise in Fon," Cherep mused, breaking Renato's own musing. He leaned forwards to see what Cherep was looking at and blinked at the dragon shaped flames in the photo. "This level of fine control would be an asset, but y'know also fun to see in person." 

Renato hummed in agreement, "He is a martial artist, so it's not too surprising," He said, looking back to his own packet anf leafing through until he found Fon's profile. "Allied with the triads though, a prominant enforcer for them." 

Cherep sighed whistfully, cusioning his face in one hand as he looked at the papers. "If only all the good ones were unattached free lancers like you Ren." His soulmae said, flipping through the packet. "I really don't want that Sky getting her paws on them." 

Renato scowled at the thought, "She is too calm considering the nature of the job request," he said in agreement, flipping to the information they had on the Mafia Donna. "I don't trust her future vison either." 

"It goes against the Chaos theory, right?" Cherep ventured, looking back over his shoulder. Renato couldn't help the flush of fondness for his soulmate for remebering his rants about mathamatics. 

He nodded, "That and the butterfly effect. Theoretically she would have to be working off of multiple different possible futures but that doesn't seem to be what's happening." 

Cherep hummed, turning back to his papers, "She's probably fixated on one future, which is why I won't drop hints around her. She identified me by my civilain cover even before I had a chance to introduce it." 

"But you'll hint at the others? I though you were trying to win Bello." Renato teased, rubbing his hand up and down Cherep's back in a way that made the commander shiver. 

"Oh, If I manage to court any of these people into my harmony, I'll be winning." Cherep said with the same tone he used when plotting assults on enemy families, the one that promised victory. "And Luce will never see it coming." 

Renato smirked, "I look forward to it, Mr. De Mort." 

Cherep cackled, turning onto his back so their eyes met, flame bright amber and purple to inky black. "Just watch me Reborn."


	13. Day 13: Ash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shifter au

When he had gone to check on the progress of the Decimo and his subordinates, Mukuro was expecting the sight of brow beaten teenagers. Maybe if the Decimo was as strong as the De Stella child's rankings claimed, he could see them having defeated MM and Birds. 

He hadn't anticipated the ash. 

Or the beast facing off against his puppet. 

Mukuro stared from the snatch of trees in the old theme park at the heavy flakes of soft grey ash that floated down, kicked up from Lancia's continued attacks on the group. Front and center was a large amber furred cat wreathed in a crackling orange fire not unlike the battle auras he's seen others use. It snarled at Lancia as it batted his wreaking ball away, each step sindging the grass beneath its paws. 

It was like one of the beasts Mukuro had seen in his dreams of Hell, and it _scared_ him. He couldn't take his eyes off it, he hadn't planned for this. Where was the decimo? Was this his beast? 

He needed to step back...adjust his plans as far away from the creature as he could. Mukuro stepped back into his mist and found himself neetly in the old theatre he had defeated the prefect. 

He had to get the shaking under control before the Decimo got here. Hopefully without the cat.


	14. Day 14: Overgrown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shifter au....i almost forgot to do this

"No..." Hana hissed warningly, her glowing eyes narrowed warningly. She kept one hand on her skirt to combat the tail she hadn't been able to shift since Hibari had gotten it in his head to go insane, and the other she held as a ward in front of her. The large, _way too large to be real but this was her life now apparently_, wolf stopped and looked at her with interest. Standing in the curve of it's was a slender kid she hadn't recognized at first, despite the fact he was wearing the Namimori middle uniform. The three of them occupied a stretch of street a short distance from the school, the cheery yellow of the building just in sight from where they are if she turned around. 

It had taken a moment to recognize him, given the fact it's been eight odd years since she'd seen Sawada Tsunayohi, but she remebered that lion smell under a new iron and sugar scent. Her fellow shifter seemed to have the same problem with keeping their two halves sepperated, a pair of dark furred feline ears and glowing amber eyes to her own feline yellow and brown stiped tail. She wondered why she hadn't seen the shifter since they were eight fleetingly, before she forced herself to focus on the large purple, _purple, what the hell_, wolf. 

She knew now that the bee in Hibari's bonnet was a challenge, and she wasn't about to let her little clan to be caught in the middle of a territory dispute. Not with a half feral Hibari and a Wolf twice the prefects size in _either_ form. She gave a warning growl that was more Cat than human. "No, you overgrown puppy." She snarled, "If you want Namimori, go fight somewhere elese. That is a school, and school is starting soon. Humans go to that school." She saw the wolf jerk back from her, tilting it's head to the side in confusion. She could see a studded leather collar peaking though it's ruff, and a odd looking purple crystal cut into a...pacifier? 

Sawada made a questioning sound that was more cat than human towards her, looking at the wolf for guidence apparently. A black blur jumped from the back of the wolf, landing on a startled Sawada's head...resolving into a _Baby?_. 

"Caiossu, Do you go to that school?" The baby asked in perfect Japanese despite the weird as hell greeting. She felt her nose wrinkle before she could help herself, mostly for the fact she _loathed_ children and for the fact the strange schild asked her that? She had a feeling the child belonged to the shifter given the matched crystal pacifier hanging around his neck. They deffinantly had a pack scent to them, under their own personal scents. 

"Obviously," She snapped, gesturing to her uniform with her free hand. The wolf snorted, a very human sound of ammusment that the baby recognized from the look he shot the wolf. 

The baby turned back to her was a guiless smile that made her fur stand on end and her ears shift. "Then you would be able to help Tsunayoshi here find his classes," He says in a way that ganered very little room to object. She almost anticipated the follow up, "He's been indisposed and needs a little help finding his way." 

She raised an eyebrow, half a mind kepping track of her mental clock. She wasn't about to challenge that angery mess of shifter for the right to get into class if she's late. Not even for her clan, loyalty is a dog trait thanks. "indisposed?" She asked, mostly to see if he'll tell her. 

"Shift-locked, Cat girl...Chan?" Sawada said, his voice a raspy half growl, like unused to talking. The wolf snorted again, nudging Sawada carefully. 

Hana..Hana wants to be insulted, both by the nickname and by the presumptive suffix he used...but. 

Hana is smart enough to take his eight year absence and the chunky way he speaks and to feel pity. A lingering fear from when she was small and shifting was still a scary prospect. It's almost enough to agree, if only because Sawada is just as small and doe eyed as Kyoko. She has to remind herself forcefully of the challenge and the wolf and the glare is easy to regain. "I'm not letting the Your wolf friend fight Hibari at my school," She hissed. 

The baby smiled again, and she could feel her mouth go dry. "Oh, don't worry. Skull is just the escort." he said cheerfully, jumping back to sit on the wolf's back. Sawada gave her an awkward smile, as if unused to making such an expression. 

"No way," She muttered, her ears pressing back as she looked at how scrawny Sawada was. 

"Tsunayoshi will be the one to fight Hibari." 

_Dammit_.


	15. Day 15: Legend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soulmate/ sentementality au
> 
> Im really excited for this one. Mostly because I got this idea at 2 in the mornig and had to record my thoughts before i could sleep. Yeaaaay insomnia.

At first he thinks he's witnessing a tragedy. 

The crack of unsilenced sniper fire rings through the air before he knows whats happening and Cherep _crumbles._

And then he thinks, throught the sudden onslot of static, this is what it all boils down to. 

The thought that made his hands shake like the first time he held a gun and knew he would die in the gutter like a rabid dog. He's shaking now. He's shaking like he hasn't since he was 16 and there was innocent blood on his hands. Shaking because the person that had became a vital part of him is collapsing from a sniper shot and can do _nothing but shake._

Shake and fear because he can do nothing but watch the blood stain Cherep's dress shirt. Too far away to get to him, and even then he knows that would only make him vulnerable to a fatal wound of his own. He can feel the flame bond in his chest, the one between him and Cherep as sky and element shudder and quake, and he almost want to be able to cry. 

He had thought himself impartial to death at this point. Had thought after being orphaned amd drawn into the dark belly of the mafia he had gotten over the pain of loosing people. That he wouldn't habe to deal with the heart wrenching pain that came with losig the one you never wanted to loose. 

If he were the religous type he thinks he would've asked God why. 

He might of prayed for a miracle. 

He would've forgoten Cherep Tusha was more than capable of delivering his own. 

He had thought this was a tragety, but was wrong. 

It happens between one moment and the next, within the moment a good assassin would make their way to check, and see if they got up. It happenes with a hard tug on their flame bond and an explosion of amber and violet fire blossoming up from his lover with a force that shakes the building Renato stands in. 

Between one moment and the next Cherep rejoins the land of the living with blood streaked down his face and fire wreathing his head like and avenging angel, his eyes glowing with a _rage_ so potent he can feel the flame pressure from a block away. His lovers stands there, unshaking with coils of chain wrapped around his fists and the famila crest stark on his jacket, flames dancing over his clenched fingers and wild hair. 

And it starts the first hints of rumors. The first real glimps people get of the Caracassa heir who survived a bullet to the brain. Who died and came back with nary a bruise. It starts then, so later when Rento is helping Cherep wash the blood and brain matter from the stuntman's purple he can recount it for him word of word for his sky's amuesment, 

For now, Renato moves from his post to find the sniper who shot his soulmate in he head. His own mind whirling with thoughts of the immortal Commander of the Caracassa. 

He stalks and thinks, he just saw the start of a legend.


	16. Day 16: Wild

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shifter au!
> 
> With Xanxus... I've never written for him or the varia. And I think it shows.   
Hmm.
> 
> In other news; Wolves aren't Pets.

"I'm not going to be your cloud gaurdian," is what greets Xanxus when he sits next to the cloud arcobaleno, the purple haired baby sipping at what looks like water and smells like cheep Vodka. "If Mammon told you otherwise they were lying." 

Xanxus snorts at the thought , waving at the bartender for a drink. "I wasn't going to ask Wolf-trash." he says as he points out the good stuff he sees. He can see the wolf's ears twitch in his periferal, and his scars pulls as he smirks. As nice an idea as having two of the world's strongest is, he can tell they aren't compatible beyond a very weak bond, despite how they both mesh with Mammon. What little flames the Cloud still available to the cloud are all tied up in the Stuntman's wilder half that he hides behind the boistrus braggard of a civilian. Xanxus tends to favor people who don't hide the not so nice parts of themselves for others, all of his gaurdians unapologetically batshit and blood thirsty. 

Xanxus can't help but think about the trash brat decimo canidate and the fights set for later. _The ones he was able to rig despite how the Cervelo were supposed to be impartial. _ Thinks about the fearsome beast who slashed his lightning's face with burning claws and dared to wear what should have been his brother's ring around his neck. About how pure the brat's flames were and the terrifing resemblence he bears to Primo. He thinks about the motley group of shifters and humans standing behind him, and the three children he faced the varia to protect. "Trash Brat has some claws to him." He says conversationally. 

Skull barks out a laugh, "Ha! You have no idea. Vongola is never going to be the same if Tsuna takes up the mantle. The Great Skull is almost excited to watch what happens next." He muses, and Xanxus brushes of the hint of something he would never let happen. Why worry about sawada trash in charge when he's gonna put the brst in the ground. 

He thinks about the sun Arcobaleno and the cloud Arcobaleno flanking him on either side, Calavone's teacher and the shifter everyone knows. "Did Vongola hire you and Reborn?" 

The Stuntman scoffs into his drink, "Vongola couldn't hire me if they offered me their entire revenue for the year." He says dismissively, and Xanxus can hear the pointed message beneath the flippant tone. "Reborn asked me for assistance with Tsu-kun." 

Xanxus takes a drink as he wonders what exactly the Greatest Hitman would need from Skull, especially given the Stuntman's limited know skillset. He wonders just how far he can push this, how much room he has in this shared drink without his gaurdians and Skull's loyalty to the decimo canidate to ruin a old friendship half atrophied after Xanxus's years on ice. "Help how?" he risks, not looking at the stuntman. 

Skull huffs a laugh, "Not going to get info from Mammon?" he asks wryly, amused in a way that makes Xanxus feel like the snot nosed brat he had been when he'd been when he first met Skull and Mammon again. He feels caught between fond nostolgia and the rage the has only been pushed down instead of gone. Skull is quiet for a while, the bartender coming back to refill the baby's glass. "You and Tsuna aren't all to different." 

Xanxus has to swallow down the rage that threatens his composure, fight back the itch of storm edged sky that threatens to manifest at being compared to civilan trash because Skull is powerful enough to be touchy about what he has to put up with. Set slightly above even the Vongola, and definately above the Varia. Skull has no real tolerance for shows of temper, isn't impressed by threats or yelling. Not from someone outside the Arcobaleno. They used to be friends as much as you made friends in the Mafia, but Skull only gave his group any slack. He was also probably the only person who could say something like thst and be even partly right, "How so?" He bites out once he feel in control enough to speak without snarling. 

"You were both sqrewed over by the machinations of stupid old men. Both betrayed by someone you called dad when you dared to do something outside their own plans." Skull says blithely, knocking back his vodka and slapping cash on the counter. Xanxus can feel Skull's eyes on him, even as he feels himself loosing his hold on the rage, because how could anything the trash brat compare to Zero point break through and loosing all three of his brothers to negligence. "Tsuna's had six months of humanity at most. He's gonna need someone like you in his corner, Xanxus di Vongola." 

The name hurts, as much as he want to claim it for his own. He doesn't know what the Wolf shifter means, doesn't know shifters enough to do more than guess but... He remebers the feral look in the brat trash's eyes when his father appeared, how the warning growl went from quiet to flame tinged bone shaking loud. How the baby gardians went from amused and almost excited to as angry and wary as his own. 

Skull jumps down from his bar stool, Xanxus meeting his gaze for the first time. The wolf's eyes are contemplative, a smile full of dog teeth. "You should ask Mammon about Shifter law, before your fight with Tsuna. This might be a Vongola ring battle, but Tsuna is a shifter first." He warns with a bearing of teeth most people would see as a cute smile on a childish face. "Just remeber that Shifter law trumps Omerta. Enjoy your quiet time." 

Xanxus watches the cloud arcobaleno leave and wonders what he's getting himself into before he pushes it aside. It doesn't matter, Sawada Tsunayoshi won't be decimo. Not if he could help it.


	17. Day 17: Ornament

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sentimentality/ Soulmate au
> 
> Mm...Skull is a good sky.  
I alsp gave Lal a familiar because she deserves one, null pacifier or not,

Cherep's first thought when he woke up on the mountain platou was to Renato, because the last thing he remebered was a flash of too bright white light with no bang and collapsing. It didn't feel like he had died, though his bones ached in the same way, but that didn't mean anything close to safe. 

His next thought was to Lal, because even though their bond was only a few days old he could feel the way her flames _twisted_. 

He wrenched himself up painfully and stumbled to his feet, ignoring how _wrong_ he felt as he tossed off his helmet, ignorrd how his limbs were shorter and his body way too light. He ignored it because Lal was shaking on the ground, a childish version of the woman he respected curled in on herself and whimpering. Their bond burned and writhed in the net of his sky flames, and he could feel parts of her rain flames, her echoing typhoon of a soul burning up into nothing. He fell to his knees, _toosmalltosmallWhatthehellhappenedtothem,_ tearing off his gloves because this needed skin to skin contact to work. "Lal Mirch!" He snapped out in Italian, in the same tone he used to direct Caracass's forces in the feild. _Hisvoicewas**wrong.**Toohightooyoung_. She jerks, rolling back to look at him with red eyes flickering with purple and indigo over the familiar blue glow that were hazy with pain. He can see the burn crawling up her face and he swallows down the knee jerk growl at someone hurting one of _his_, swallowed it because she wasn't supposed to be this vulernable because of someone else. _He recognizes the crystal pacifier on her chest, as dead as it is, noticed the matching purple one on his own chest. He has grown up hearing the horror story of the rainbow curse and he fell stupid for not recognizing the trap before it was set. He let his soulmate walk into a trap for a game. He was a horrible sky._

"Cher- Cielo it hurts," Lal whimpers, and he had to bite down harder on the growl, his hands itching for his chains and his gun. He shushed her instead, putting one hand,_tiny,nothishand_, on her unburned cheek, the other brushing her hair awat from her face. 

"I know, I know. Just breathe through it Lal. I'll make it better." He murmered, closing his eyes to get a better feel for her flames. _He ignores the flickers that used to be his cloud half, the gape in his soul. God, what a mess._ He hasn't seen someone's flames shatter, has only heard about it in tandem with a sky's death or when a harmony turns discordant, so he has to take seconds Lal doesn't have watching how her Rain flames fall away from her cloud and mist secondary like dead skin despite how her flame writhes. He watches the shift until his instincts nudge him, _nothing like vongola's hyper intuition, but all flame users has some form of instincts,_ and he starts using his sky flames to prevent anymore of her rain flames from burning away. 

It was nothing he'd ever done before, mostly because he hadn't had gaurdians other than Renato till he met the Pricnisette, hadn't needed to use harmony like this ever. The dead pacifier had rejected one of the strongest rain flame users he had ever met and it had tried to enforce the rejection to her very soul. It was like disharmony in a single person, and Cherep knew if he had been even minuets later Lal would have been irreparably damaged and their bond burned away with her flames. Cherep forced harmony on her, resynced her rainflames with her cloud and mist. _He was..is the stromgest cloud, but his Flames had always been even Sky and Cloud. Maybe they weren't at Vongola purity but his sky was powerful and had been glutted on his own propagation factor. He was probably the only person who could've fixed it._ Lal would never be the same, too much of her rain flames burned away, but she wasn't broken. 

Cherep pulled back, meeting Lal Mirch's gaze that was a lovely royal blue with her new mix of flames. He wantes to pull her into a hug, to allow himself to reassure himself that his element wasn't going to vanish or burn away. He doesn't because he can feel the man standing behind him, the one who cause the whole mess to begin with, and his allies havn't woken up yet. 

"Well, isn't this interesting." The man in the iron hat said flatly, sounding irratated. Cherep turned so that he could see him, putting himself between him and Lal. "A sky pretending to be a cloud." 

Cherep scoffed, eyes narrowed on him as he poked his other bonds. "I would of had a very different color pacifier if that were the case. Dual Primary." He said gaurdedly, not willing to play his game with this being. A overly naive sky is one thing, for all of Luce Gigilo Nero's power she's just mortal. The thing infront of him felt anything but, flames or no. "I was pretending to be a lot of things." 

"So it seems," The man said looking around with something that looked like satisfaction. Cherep followed his gaze, noting that while his allies were all the same size as he was, they were relativly unharmed. The blond in the fatigues and having the rain pacifier was new and he had a feeling he was the reason Lal almost shattered. "Well, harmony between you and Luce would have been desirable it isn't the end of the world." Cherep wasn't sure he liked the man's wry tone, not with that phrasing. 

"Maybe choose a sky who knows how to court elements properly." He said flattly, crossing his arms over his chest. _He was getting used to being tiny, it still felt wrong but he could stave off his break down for now._

Checkerface stared at him for a long moment before looking away. "If I had known there was another canidate more suited to this generation's strongest I would have had slated you to be their sky De mort, but this works just fine." He said airily, though Cherep could tell the man was still irratated. "Here, Recompance for your sarcrifice." He shoved a glass tank at Cherep forcing him to grap it less it falls, other cages and enclousres apearing with a burst of flames next to everyone. 

He looks down at it startled, blinking at the little red octopus staring back at him from it's tank. He can feel the animal's match to his own flames, and he realised abruptly he's holding a familiar made for him. Then the words register, and he looked up to see Checkerface gone and the others stirring. _Sacrifce??_

He gave Lal on last look, adjusting his hold on his new...octopus. She's sat up groggily with a small spotted wild cat nosing her arm. He turned away, stumbling over to Renato's side as the sun woke with a jerk. He wasn not used to his new body yet, didn't want to be but Ren was more important. 

He noted the little lizard in a little plastic enclosure next to his soulmate as he sat heavily at his sun's side, just close enough for Renato to feel without touching him. "Sit up slowly." He said gently, holding the tank close to his chest. "And don't freak out. Its...It's pretty bad but, we're not dead." 

"You are a bad gauge, mithter De Mort. Your pretty..." Renato stopped halfway throuh his complaint. He met his soulmates dark eyes, and he knew Renato was an attractive man, but his soulmate had apparently started as an adorable child. He could also see the panic in the abyssal black as Renato sat up, his fedora left on the ground, "Cherep, Bello, you're a child." Renato..._lisped_. They both froze, one in horror and him in startled bemusement. 

A Renato's soulmate and privy to most of the hitman's secrets he knew Renato had once had a lisp, a fact he had exchanged with pictures of his first ventures into make up as a child. The horror of the situation didn't seem so bad at that moment. Oh, it was bad. _He was a baby_, and his soulmate had a similar fate. They were cursed and nothing he knew about the arcobaleno said what happened to them when they were done, but he had his soulmate and his elements were alive. "Am I cute?" He asked in attempt to be playful, but it fell flat consodering the situation. He sounded vulnerable to his own ears and it was always fun to be reminded how much Renato's opinon mattered to him. 

Reborn gave him a flat look, even as he grabbed Cherep's arm and pulled him closer. "Always. What happened." He demanded, his eyes dropping to the tank and the then the pacifier. "What is with the octopus?" 

Cherep laughed a bit desprately, leaning into his soulmate. "I realy don't know, love." He said, "but I totally won our game."


	18. Chapter 18: Misfit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shifter Au!

The wolf's paws crunched through the thick snow, running the edge of his territory, the edge of the forest. Snow drifted down thick and heavy, and the wolf's breathes steamed white mist with every huff. It had been a few days since the wolf had bothered with hunting, and maybe if something found its way into the wolf's path it would kill it. If it encountered another wolf, it would chase them off. _MonsterDemonUnnatural_

The wolf shook its head, pushing more into its run. It longed for a pack, for companionship...but other wolves always seemed wrong, smelt off despite their similar species. They were always too small and too scared of the wolf. _He knew why once, but things were hazy. He knew a lot things once._

The wolf slowed as the lights of the settlement came into veiw, the human dens. It did not like the humans, they were always too loud and always scared of the wolf. They were the once that threw sticks and rocks and cried when the wolf got up. They were the once with loud sticks that meant shattered bones and blood for hours. _Not always, sometimes wounds healed as soon as he got them and he would bite them, hurt them back. It made him feel awful everytime._The wolf's ears pressed back and it slunk by where he knew they could see him if they looked, its fur was so bright and nothing like the grey brown pelts of other wolves. 

As soon as it felt safe, it leaped up into a run again. _He wanted to put as much distace as he could between himself and them._

It was moments later that the scent of rot _and deep settled resentment_hit the wolf's nose. The rattling of metal binds that made he wolf snarl everytime the humans tried to catch it with them, and snow flew up as the wolf skid to a stop in front of the creatures of rot. It growled, low in its chest with warning, ears forwards and all its teeth bared. Its pelt flared threateningly, in the way that drove even tigers off their hunt. 

"_A flame animal outside of Mafia land._" One of the creature said in a human language the wolf barely remembered. Something about it made the wolf's head hurt. "_The civilians think it's a demon, but it takes only one to break Omerta._" 

"_Take it to the island with the rest. There is no crime here for the vindice._" The middle one said, and the wolf had to jump back from the chains that shot for it. _Something nagged at him, something important but he couldn't...._

A flare of flames, darker than the orange human fire flared behind the wolf, and the answer struck him. 

_The wolf pulled back, for the first time in...in... how long has it been?_ And He found himself abruptly human and shivering naked in the snow before the... Vindice if he heard the correctly. The memories of the time before he had spent who knows how long as a wolf were hazy and indistinct but he could remeber a name. 

"I am Skull, " He growled with a rusty voice, in the russian he rembers hearing from the people of the human settlement. More hazy memories came up, the laws of shifters prevelent as he looked on the reanimated dead things. Which, by every god willing to listen , they terrified him to his bones. They smelt of rage and death, like how he had imagined malevolent spirit would smell givin physical form. But he knew this to his bones, hazy memories or no. "Wolf shifter. Skull is only punishable by shifter law and no others." 

The Vindice stared at him despite being wrapped up in their white bandages, their chains rattling from where they held them. "You threaten Omerta by flaunting your flames, shifter. The vindice uphold the laws of the Costa Nostra." The uttered in a tone that makes him wish he had stayed in the mindless haze of being shift locked. _The wolf snarled, not one to be cowed by human rules. Dead or not_. 

Skull steeled himself, even if he didn't know what the...house of night(?) Was. His point stood, "Skull is not bound by the Cossa Nostros or whatever you just said. The Great Skull doesn't know what flames you are even talking about!" He snarled, borrowing his wolf halves fearlessness. He.. he used to be a preformer he thinks, used to smell like motor oil and spun sugar. 

"Ignorance doe not equate to innocence." The vindice growls, and their chains rattle menacely. Skull is too terrified to sigh with annoyance but he can remeber how to fake confidence. 

"And being a part of law enforcement does not equate having jurisdiction over shifters. No human goverment or instituion has the authority to give you it." He says, crossing his arms over his chest. Mostly because he was freezing and naked but they didn't need to know that. "Tell the Great Skull about the flames and I'll try to follow this Omert...a." Skull burried the dispair deep within his soul, because he remebered where he had heard that word, good old media. "This is a underworld thing isn't it. Damnit." 

Things were easier as a damn wolf.


	19. Day 19: Sling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sentementality au   
Shortly after the first fic. Like a few months, so they teenagers.

"So, explain this to me again," Renato drawled, crossing his arms over his chest. The infirmary smelt of sterile bandages and blood, the blue walls took nothing away from the stark white bed and the sheer number of downed Caracassa men lying in said beds. Cherep rolled his eyes from where he sat on his own bed, waving off the healer with his free hand. 

"My dear old uncle decided that pending our banning from Mafia land," He started, adjusting the strap of his new arm sling with a frown, the purple of his arm cast stuck out from the grey fabric. Renato wanted to know where he got the shirt he was wearing, the thing was vibrant purple and there was a faded skull decal over the back. 

"Because of the drugs, guns, and human trafficking." Renato pointed out dryly, because it had to be said. 

Cherep rolled his eyes again, shooting Renato a venomous look. "Did I ever say we didn't deserve it? No. But I am the commander of his forces so when he said attack Mafia land." he said flattly, looking around. "Well, you can see what happened for yourself." He gave his own broken arm a sour look. 

Renato huffed with laughter, stalking to his soulmate's side with a smile. Cherep narrowed his eyes at him, looking distinctly suspisous. He wondered when exactly his soulmate was going to stop looking at him like something he found on the bottom of his shoe, he was embarassingly enamoured with the commander. Not that he'd show it, or admit it to anyone who wasn't Cherep. "Want some help with that?" He asked, gesturing causally to the cloudy sky's broken arm. 

Cherep looked sown at his arm, before giving Renato a skeptical look. "You know how to heal?" He said derisively, holding his arm closer to himself. Renato frowned, a bit hurt and more than a bit insulted. He flared his flames, the sparkle bright flickers of yellow flames skittering over his fingers pointedly. Cherep's eyes shine with his own flames, the amber particularly prominant for once. 

"Of couse I do, healing is just one of the many things I can do with sun flames." Renato said with just a hint of anger. Cherep gave him a flat look, putting on his good hand on his waist in liu of crossing his arms. Renato could see the smaller injuries that weren't as noticeable as the bright purple cast, the bandage under his bangs, the darkening bruises dotting his cheekbones, and the bloody split of his lip. All make-up had been cleaned from his face including the dark purple tear drop he had thought was a tatoo that first meeting. His eyes glowed flame bright and Renato could see that this loss hadn't shaken him. The caracassa might have gotten beaten back, but they had done something no other familia could claim. They had reached mafia land's shore, he had come back from his job when he had heard. 

Cherep Tusha had done the impossible, and survived with only a broken arm and a feew scrapes and bruises to show for it. Renato wished he had been there to see it. 

"If your so good at healing, why don't you help some of the people who need some flame asissted healing." Cherep said, breaking their eye contact to gesture around the room. 

Renato followed it with his eyes, seeing the beaten men and woman lying on stretchers wih nurses and doctor flitting around binding wounds and pressing pale yellow flames to wounds. He didn't so much as wrinkle his nose as shoot Cherep a frown. "I wouldn't mind healin you, _Bello_." He said at length, drawing his fedora down to shade his eyes. "Underlings..." 

"My underlings." Cherep bit out, his face flushed a soft pink. "My familia members who got hurt under my command. If you want me to even think about allowing you to keep up with your affections you'll get that through your thick skull. Family first." 

Renato put up his hands in surrender, letting his flames die out. "Right. How about this, I help you healers make sure your underlings don't bleed out, and you give me say, three hours..five if things go well and we talk over dinner." He said, working to keep the sly tone out of his voice. Cherep frowned at him, but the flame brightness faded from his eyes. 

"You mean a date." Cherep deadpanned. 

"If you'd like that," Renaro hedged, smiling at him. 

Cherep scowled, opening his mouth to say something, probably a rejection only to be cut off by a harried looking nurse. "The commander would love to join you later Mr. Sinclair." The brunet nurse said with a pointed look that shut Cherep up when he went to protest. She turned to him with a glare he wouldn't want to cross, especially with the blood streaked over her face mask. "We have someone whith two sepperst bullet wounds, if your sun flames are as good as they look we could really use your expertise." She grabbed Renato's arm in a way that would have made a weaker man flinch, he could've sworn his bones creaked. 

"Of course, madame." He said genially, casting on last look to his soulmate. Cherep scowled at him, eyes flashing dangerously when Renato smiled at him cheerfully. "See you at dinner tommarow, _bellissimo_." 

Renato smirked at the inarticulate sound of flustered anger his soulmate made. The less injured men around him chuckling at their commander, and Renato kinda got why Cherep cared for them. He pulled his arm out of the nurses grip, rolling his sleaves up. He was the best, and limited healing experiance, he still knew the theory.


	20. Day 20: Tread

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shifter au

"Maa, maa. Where is you territory, Skull-sama?" Takeshi asked with his usual easy going smile, the one with almost too many teeth. Skull figured he learned it from watching shifters, given the sheer amount of the residing in Namimori. He could feel the other gaurdian potentials looking at him as well, even the Hibari was watching him from the boy's perch in the backyard. 

He gave Reborn a quick side glance, meeting his eyes for a second. _What to say, what to say._ "Well, " He drawled, looking back at the human rain gardian potential, "The great Skull-sama used to maintain a wide swath of forest in Russia. I held it for so long humans thought that I was a demon in wolf form there to harry them and their livestock, no one dared to tred where I had been seen last. Unkillable and of Demonic size and coloring!" 

"Wait, Your saying you were the russian UMA!?" Gokudera exclaimed, interest sparkling in his eyes in Skull direction. Skull scooted back a bit, fans he could deal with. Conspiracy theorists not so much. 

"UM what?" Skull tried, kinda wishig he had looked himself up before than. The internet was an amazing tool these days, and it wasn't like he didn't know how to utalize it at this point. He used text speak for gods sake. 

"Unidentified Mysterious Animal!" Gokudera enthused, pulling out a notebook and pen. "The Demon Wolf of the Tiaga Forest! It was said to run the edges of the forest for days on end, eating anything in it's path. Known for it's large stature, bright purple fur, and it's immortality! Several eyewitness accounts report the wolf shrugging off gunshot wounds to the head or other vital areas. Several also report seeing the wolf self-immolate with purple flames!" He looked back up at Skull with a look of realization, "Cloud flames. How did I not see this earlier!" The storm started writing furiously in this notebook, a bright gleam in his eyes. 

" Maa, Does that mean you speak russian?" Takeshi asked curiously, the other kids looking at Skull interestedly. Skull didn't sigh, but seriously, he was way cooler for the fact he had been a stuntman. The best stuntman! Why did it always come down to shifting or his past with these kids? 

"_The great Skull can speak tons of languages you brats. Russkiy is just one of many._" He said brightly in Russian, pretty confident only Reborn knew what he was saying. "The great Skull-sama was born in Russia." 

"Where is your territory now though?" Tsuna asked suddenly, having been watching their back and forth silently. His fellow flame animal shifter had the amber bright gleam in his eye that meant more lion that Tsuna. Foiled by Hyper intuiton it seemed. The other cubs looked at him expectantly, and Skull wondered how Hibari would react if he said Namimori, which was kinda true considering Tsuna was defaulting to his guidence for now. He wouldn't, becaus dinner was soon and Nana would do her very best to kill him if he got them riled up before it. 

"Taiga still belongs to me given no one's challenged me for it," He admitted, mostly because he couldn't lie without Lion-Tsuna calling him out, the brat. "Mafia land, and a few houses in Sicily. Anything owned by my pack I guess." He catched Reborn's flicker of shock out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help the mocking smile on his face. Now he understands what he did, better than never. 

Lion-Tsuna tilted his head consideringly, "So, Namimori? Since I'm in your pack?" He said, and Skull was going to strangle the brat. He heard Hibari's low growl from the tree already. 

"No, The great Skull-sama did not face the challenger. You are more my pupil than packmate. Namimori is all yours." He said firmly, hands up like the kid could hand an entire province at him. 

Takeshi laughed, lookig at Tsuna with a playful look in his eyes, "Does that mean you're going to patrol and bite people to death, Tsuna?" He joked, his eyes lit with the same dark interest he saw in Reborn's sometimes. 

Tsuna blinks hard, his eyes fading from flame bright to his softer amber brown. His ears flatten against his head, casting a glance to Hibari. "Kyoya-senpai does a very good job maintaining order, Why would I take that from him?" He asked in reprimand. Skull caught a glimpse of the Hibari's pleased flush before the prefect turned away, looking disinterested. 

Skull rolled his eyes, teenagers.


	21. Day 21: Treasure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sentimentality au
> 
> Because its boiled down to alternating between these two. Thay are my favorite.

"Hey Verde," Cherep as Skull asked from where he was perched on the counter, Renato looked up from where he and Lal Mirch were cleaning their weapons on what was uaually their dinner table. Verde looked up from where he was making what should be lunch under Skull's experienced eye. There was a gleam in his soulmates eyes that Renato recognized, and the brief flash of a smile his lover shot him meant nothing good for Renato. 

"What, I am following your instructions," The lightning groused, shooting Skull a venomous look. Skull hadn't hesitated to smack Verde's fingers with a wooden spoon when the scientist tried to get _creative_. 

"Don't whine, I have a question," Skull chided, brandishing his school threateningly. "A science question about flames." 

"What." Verde bit out, stirring what Renato belives to spagetti. Skull's smile was all Skull De Mort Charm, bright and arrogant in a way that either irratated you or made you want to cheer him on. It annoyed him, if only because he liked quiet confidence of Cherep's real smiles. 

"Is your flame type linked to your soulmates soulmark?" He asked in a naive tone, looking guiless as he watched Verde cook. Renato stopped himself from reacting, subtly adjusting his shoulders as hisnmark tingled. He wondered where Cherep thought he was going with this, especially given the fact _he_ knew that Cherep knew that there was a corralation. Was it another hint? 

Verde made an interested noise, still focused on the pot. "Why do you ask?" The scientist ventured, and Renato _doesn't_ scowl at the scientist's interested leer. He also needed to make a remark if he wanted to keep up the game. Skull and Reborn didn't get along at the this point in time. 

"Does the Lackey have a Soulmate? I pity the poor fool stuck with you," He mocked, internally smickering because he knew Cherep wouldn't resist such blatent baiting. He also knew Cherep would appreciate Reborn bad mouthing himself in front of everyone. 

True to form, his lover let out a offended squawk, complete with Skull De Mort flailing. "The Great Skull has only the best soulmate! They are very cool and mature and they love the Great Skull a ton!" He raved, a bright gleam in his eye as he met gazes with Renato. Outwardly Skull looked insenced, but Renato could see the pleased glee hidden underneath it. "The Great Skull would do anything for his soulmate! They're very handsome and Smart and they encouraged my interests... And.. and they care about me a lot, even before I was big and famous. I..i miss them. C-cause the job I can't see them." He finished quietly, curling up with a snifle. His eyes were big and wet, as he proped his socked feet on the counter. 

Renato had gone into this game knowing his soulmate was a great actor, had seen his skill in much brighter settings, but _damn_. He felt bad despite knowing Skull was talking about him and they sleep in the same room. He felt bad and he knew Skull was playing things up. He met Skull gaze, sending a conscerned nudge to their bond just in case he had missed something big...Cherep sent a reassuring flush of sky flames back, basically confirming that it was a game. 

Lal gave him a venomus look over her disembled shit gun, and he realized the ex-consubin probably had he own soulmate. He held hisnhands up in surrender, silently addmitting thst what he said was in poor taste. It didnxt help that he wanted Lal Mirch to like him considering Cherep was considering courting her as an element. 

"Given that both flames and soulmarks come from the soul, they are related," Verde interupted, cutting throuh the tension. "You're Soulmate will deffinantly have a purple mark given your displayed flame type, mabye with hints of any secondaries you possess, wheras their mark is..?" Verde looked to Skull imploringly. 

Skull sniffles, chin proped on his knees, _And Renato is going to forcably insit that Cherep whipe down the counter with a disinfectant after putting his feet on it._ "Yellow," The stuntman hummed, a quick glance shot towards Renato. 

"Sun user than," Verde hummed, lookig at Skull comsideringly, "Or at least they habe the potential to be one given their a Civilian. Is this done yet?" 

Skull looked over, fropping his feet from the counter, "Let me test it." He said, frowing at the pot. 

Renato went back to his gun, making a few plans to please his soulmate later. He thinks Cherep would appreciate a date, they had't had a ton of alone time yet.


	22. Day 22: Ghost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shifter au

Tsuna glanced at Enma out of the corner of his eye, mostly to make sure the red head didn't trip over his own paws again. The bandages and the sad look in his strange eyes was what prompted him to invite Enma over. _There was something grounding about the red Human-cub's presence, his smell a mix of loamy earth, small felines, and a fur raising hint of old death. The lion didn't like that one._ "Are you sure you don't want to invite your friends?" Tsuna asked, watching the human twitch away a bit. Tsuna remebered how the vongola ring had flared in tandem with Enma's when they touched, he was glad he had caught his peer before he got too far. 

"Uh...They have better things...I wouldn't want to bother them, I mean," Enma stuttered, looking away with an uneasy frown. "Aren't we going to your house?" 

Tsuna tilted his head, _Not completely true, the lion thought. Enma was important though. Need to tell him..._ "Well yes, but my house is very loud. Most of the pride lives there, and the cubs." He said consideringly, "Have you registered with Kyo- uh Hibari-senpai? Of your intentions?" 

Enma tripped over his feet with a startled _What?_, prompting Tsuna to catch his arm and stabilize him. "You mean the Prefect? Why would we talk to him?" Enma squeeked, glancing back towards where Namimori middle was barely visible. 

Tsuna frowned in confusion, his ears going back as he nodded, "Hibari-senpai used to be the Top shifter of Namimori," He said, his frown twisting when Enma's confused look hadn't abated. "Namimori is a Shifter colony. As in someone's claimed Territory, recognized by the goverment and everything. It used to belong to Hibari before I won a challenge, but I let him and Kusakabe-san deal with everything because Kusakabe-san is really good at paperwork and I have too much homework to patroll like Kyoya does." 

Enma looked rather faint, glancing back to the school with a murmer Adleheid. Tsuna hoped his friends weren't causing trouble for his cloud, especially considering Kyo-kun was unhappy with the fact they had to attend the inheritance ceremony in Italy. "The goverment?" Enma murmmered weakly, looking back to Tsuna with something like suspison. 

"We get a stepind for maintaing everything, but otherwise they leabe us alone. That's the den!" Tsuna said, pointing to his house with a excited smile,_A bareing of teeth to warn him from making trouble in the den around the more vulnerable members of his pride, the lion wouldn't hesitate to strike down a threat. The dragon from the future had taught them that._ "My pride members are going to meet up there later, but since it's only you, you can come inside." He already felt Mukuro's and Chrome's mixed flames nudging his own in greeting, both of them feeling like contentment and the constant low thrum of mischeif. The cubs flicker flames were too distracted to give more than an excited brush as they played. Skull and Reborn seemed to out for once. 

He grabbed Enma's sleave, pulling the read head with him as he jogged towards the door. He stopped infront of it putting on hand on the flame marked wood, giving Enma another smile. "This is my den, you can meet two of my pride members! They can probably help you wih your ghost problem!" 

He vaugly heard Enma squeek out a loud, my what problem? But when he opened the door, Mukuro was there to meet him with Chrome across his shoulders and he couldn't resist jumping his mist gaurdian. He didn't like being too far away after the future that never was, and Mukuro and Chrome were the only ones who he didn't see at school. He wrapped his arms around Mukuro's waist and nuzzled up under his chin, scent marking him and taking in his Cat and spice scent that had hints of Ken and Chikusa lingering. "I'm home Mukuro-kun, Chrome-chan." He said into Mukuro's shirt. He felt Mukuro laugh rumble in his chest as the mist return his hug. 

He pulled back, giving the two a closed mouth smile, before glancing back at Enma who looked scared. "This is Kozato Enma, he's new at school, and I think he's being haunted cause he smells like dead people." Tsuna said, turning back to Mukuro, who looked amused. That was good, he liked it when his gaurdians were happy. "I'm gonna check on the cubs real quick, so don't bother Enma-kun too much while I'm gone." 

"Kufufu~No promises, Sawada." Mukuro purred, rubbing a hand over Tsuna's hair. Tsuna flashed him a smile as he toed off his shoes and stepped around Mukuro. He thinks he heard Enma whimper as he left but he was probably wrong. Mukuro and Chrome were only mildly unhinged together, and mind breaking wasn't allowed in the den.


	23. Day 23: Ancient

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sentementality Au.
> 
> Uhm...fair warning? This is a month or two after the arcobelno curse went into effect.

If it hadn't been for the fact Verde was the same size he had been at age _two_, noting the behavorial differences between Cherep Tusha and his cover of Skull De Mort would have been his next project. Learning about the truth of Skull de Mort, of the game of deceptions the Stuntman/ Commander had been playing with everyone save his soulmate, before the finalization of their flame bond had been the final peice of a puzzle he hadn't know he had been putting together. 

Looking at him now, if he hadn't possesed the knowledge they were the same person, he would be hard pressed to connect the cooly confident man with a deadly grace with the arrogent loudness of the flailing Skull de Mort. So used to the fool, the cold orchid glare his new sky leveled at him was unsettling. _The fact Cherep could keep his eyes cloud purple without an amber flicker or the color fading spoke to immaculate control of his flames, which only made the commander more of an intimidating figure if Verde were to be honest._ "You want to _what_." Cherep growled, tiny hands clenched around the peice of steel rebar they were using to test the commanders new limits, the metal creaked. Verde wrote a note as he saw Cherep dent the rebar. 

"I don't plan to spend the rest of my natural life as an toddler, Skull." Verde said flattly, gesturing with his pen at the green pacifier shaped flame drain around his neck. "I intend to develop a solution to the curse. You have stated you have information regarding the details of the Arcobaleno curse." 

Cherep made an angry noise in the back of his throat, twisting the rebar as he glared venomously. Verde noted that Cherep's deceptive physical strength hadn't suffered being forced into his new form. "Word of mouth stuff," his sky bit out, "Bedtime stories warning against showing off too much, the same one most flame active brats get in older familias. Don't show off or you'll be the next Arcobaleno. My familiy hasn't been know for having strong single primaries ever, the kind of flame user that the curse is known for targeting so I don't know much. All I really know is what Checkerface said to my face, that we were sacrifices." 

Verde looked at the man turned child dthat had managed to court him into a harmony, and there was a flicker of a upset look, something hateful and self depreciating that he'd seen on Cherep's face a few times since they were cursed. Can see the purvassive worry in his pale purple gaze and anger, worry for him specifically or everyone je cared for under the curse he couldn't tell. Despite the Caracssa's less than stellar reputation, the familia itself was a close knit group under the two sky's of Cherep and his Cousin thar had drawn most of the current incarnation of the Arcobaleno into it's influence. 

"If I promice to be careful, will you calm down?" Verdd asked flattly, looking at him over the curved rim of his glasses. Cherep looked like he was going to snap something again before he slumped with a sigh, looking to the side. 

The commander ran a hand over his face, eyes unfocused as he thought. Verde noted a few more things down about which behavoirs Skull exibited that Cherep didn't as he waited him out. _The subject expresses the same interest in purple, but had toned down the overal number of purple articals of clothing. Prefered wear seem to be thick knit sweaters in either purple, orange, darker pinks, black, or grey and comfortable black pants under a leather jacket. Subject still had a fondness for novelty patterened socks-_

"I just, I don't want you get hurt _moya molniya_," Cherep said, and Verde is 90 percent sure he called Verde his lightning, not so much a pet name as his title. Getting hurt had not been his plan either. "I'm worred that if you aren't careful you'll go what Lal went through, and you have little to no secondary flames Verde." 

Verde rembered Lal's new dual Mist and Cloud primary with a close Rain secondary and when it had been the other way around, and shuddered. Cherep had a good point, something he hadn't considered. "Maybe acclimating to our new bodies should be a priority over experimentation." He said, looking back to his note book. He ignored the amused huff from his sky, "We're busy doing test at the moment either way, try to unbend the rebar please." 

Looking down his hands, with steel warped around it, Cherep swore in Russian.


	24. Day 24: Dizzy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shifter au!  
Uhm, because I'm saving the tags for the prompts...Unconsenual drugging? Skull is very high right now, and for once it is not Verde's fault.

Skull stumbled through the door, giggling to himself. His feet? Paws?? weren't working too well at the moment, everything was swirling, swirling, swirlllllll- "Oh! Hi~" Skull drawled, crashing into someones soild chest with a omf. Whoeveeer it was was kind enough to keep him from falling, grabbing his arms and holding him still. He tried to focus on the person's face, but everything was still blurry and spinning and he thinks his ears were ringing? _Territory, got back to his terrritory. Found pack. Is pack?_

"Dove sei stato, lackey? Sei stato via per ore!(_Where have you been, Lackey? You have been gone for hours!)" The helpful person growled in some weird made up language. Skull couldn't understand what they were saying at aaaaallllll which was mean." _

"You are mean! The great skull can't unta- undeeeersen- understand!" Skull slurred with a pout to show the helpful person that Skull wasn't verry happy with them. He couldn't make their face look any clearer, but they looked unhappy. Good! He needed.."Need my pack..Where's my pack? What are you in my territorry? Are you pack?" He leaned closer to the mean helpful person to sniff at them. _Coffee, gunpowder, small reptile, blood, and the wolf's own scent. Smelt dangerous, angry, worried. Pack member?_ What do his pack members smell like again? The wolfy parts know, but he is the wolf parts...he whines, his head hurt. 

"Credo sia stato drogato. I suoi occhi sono completamente dialogati e sembra aver perso il controllo sulle sue abilità mutevoli...Credo che abbia perso la sua capacita ' di capire l'italiano. Gli parlerei in russo..(_I think he was drugged. His eyes are fully dialated and he appears to have lost control over his shifting abilities...I belive he has lost his ability to understand italian. I would recomend speaking to him in Russian. _)" Another voice cut in coldly, a green blur apearing at the mean helpful person's shoulder. The green person smelt like lightning and chemicals, and the wolf. "Trovero ' qualcosa che lo elimini dal suo organismo. (_I will get something to flush it out his system._)" 

"Fretta. (_Hurry_)" The mean person snapped, and the green blur disappeared! Skull tried to move out of the mean helpful person's grip to see where it went but they wouldn't let him go! They were so meeean! "So meeeean!" Skull whinned, trying to look over their shoulder. They were too tall! Or was Skull short? Reborn said Skull was short a lot...Oh! Maybe the mean helpful person knew where Reborn was! Reborn was pack! 

"Skull, I am Reborn." The mean helpful person growled in Skull's language! Wait..Did them mean Reborn reborn? Skull's Reborn? How did they hear his thoughts? He leaned back as far as their grip would let him, wide eyes looking at the mean helpful person with fear. Where they reading his mind? He didn't want to be mind wiped! "Yes, That Reborn you idiot. No, no ones reading your mind, your talking out loud to yourself." Reborn, said hand clenched tight on his shoulders, ow. _Bad pack member_. 

Oh. Whoops. Man that drink did weird thing to him, or what it the tranulisers. Hmmm, Skull wasn't sure...he needed to brush his teeth. He thinks he sill has blood in his mouth. Oh well. Oh he can see better! He looked at maybe Reborn, deffinantly mean person still holding him, and gasped. "OH! Your really pretty! Reaaly really pretty, but like boy pretty. Your eyes are really dark and scary and and your sideburns are so cool. Is all your hair curly!?" he said, because helpful mean person was! Really pretty, and smelt like Skull and and...Looked really mad...and Skull slapped a hand over his mouth. 

Reborn's face was kinda red and somehing deep deeep within his brains said he should shut up. He thinks its the wolfy bits. _Sunny-pack member smelt murderous._


	25. Day 25: Tasty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sentementality au! 
> 
> You guys might recognize my sole named Oc -Corra, who is usually Skull's publicist but in this is the next heir of the Tusha Bratva / Caracassa Familia and Cherep's cousin.

Renato walked towards the kitchen at a relaxed pace, one hand pressed over his mouth as he yawned. He had woken up to find his bed empty and evidence Cherep had managed once again to get up earlier without waking him, something that would have been irratating if it hadn't been the seventh time the commander had done it this month. A part of him had been hoping his lover would have stayed in bed this morning, if only because it was reassuring to have Cherep close at hand when he woke up. 

"_ -that now? I'm busy._" Cherep hissed in Russian, the sounds of movemtn and chatter reaching Renato as he paused at the kitchen doorway. Unlike the traditional mansion Caracassa HQ in Scicily where there was a fully trained kitchen staff who provided the meals of the inner family, Cherep's personal abode was both smaller, decorated to his lovers somewhat colorful and ecentric tastes, and Cherep made most of the food himself. Meaning Renato was not surprised to find his lover in moving around the kitchen in a mulberry pink sweater, black exersize shorts, and black knee length socks covered in rainbow sprockets and gears, his hair pinned back into his short pony tail as he stirred somthing in a bowl. 

What he wasn't expecting to see was the other Caracassa sky, Corrado Tusha, sittining on the counter next to where Cherep was working with a tablet computer in hand and Cherep's number 1 nightmare mug in the other. The Caracassa's heir was a sharp contrast to his cousin, aparently taking after his italian mother with tan skin and rich choclate hair to where Cherep had pale skin and his strange purple hair. They had the same pale eyes though, Cherep's orchid and Corra's light grey, something of a Caracassa family trait. "_I really need that paperwork done before next week Cherep._" The heir said, giving his cousin a long suffering glare. Renato leaned himself against the doorway, watching the two for a moment. 

"_It'll get done! But right now I am baking, for you. You unappreciative-_" Cherep grumbled, side eyeing his cousin. Something passed between them when their gazes mer, Cherep tensed minutely, falling silent. 

Corra turned back to their tablet, taking a sip of whatever they had in the mug,"_That's what I thought._ Corra said peacefully. 

Renato couldn't help his laugh, the two sky's startling with matching flares of amber mixed with vaious colors of shared secondaries. The room filled with the scent of baked honey and spice bread as Cherep flash cooked whatever he had been cooking, mixing with the slightly less pleasant smell of Corra's burned coffee. Cherep whirled around with a frustrsted growl, fists flickering with flames and eyes flame bright. The two sky's looked at him incredualously, He held his hands up placatingly, snickering under his breath. "Renato! _What the hell!? You made me ruin the Pryanik!_" His lover snarled, though all of the flames had exstinguished the moment they saw it was him and not an intruder. 

"Good Morning to you to, **Bellisimo**" Renato teased in Italian, smiling at the frown blushing Cherep shot him. He glanced towards Corra, meeting the reluctent amusement on his face, "Mssr. Tusha." 

The heir rolled their eyes, leveling Renato a flat look. "Mr. Sinclair." They returned flattly, looking at their smoking mug with a disapointed frown before using mist flames to make it appear in the sink. 

Cherep huffed, shaking his head as he turned to look at what must be an large unintentional cookie. "Ren, c'mere, I want uou to try this." He said grumpily, glancing at Renato for a moment. "I wanna see if this can be saved." 

Renato crossed the distance to him, though he maintained a look of faint disbelief. "Why won't you try it? You're the immortal." He mused, stepping up behind Cherep and wrapping his arms around the shorter man's waist. A glance over the Commanders shoulder showed him a bowl, containg a slightly charred cookie like baked good in one of the many ceramic bowls the house offered. This soul mate had poked it with one of the kitchen knives to see if he had managed to cook the dough all the way, and made a resignedly pleased sound then it came out clean. 

Cherep scoffed at his question, using a spoon to scoop out a peice of the goods. "I can't make Corra try it, if they gets poisoned I'll have to do their paperwork for them while they recover." He said, holding the spoon out for Renato, who took it obligingly. It didn't look bad, just strangly cooked and not in cookie form. 

"Plus he knows I'll say no." Corra added as Renato put the spoon in his mouth. It tasted like Cherep's most of the commanders ventures in baking, and while it wasn't tiramisu, the honey spice cookie was just fine. He ignored Corra's implication that he was weak to his soulmate. _It was true, not that he'd even admit to it. There wasn't anything shameful in loving the person destined for you._

"It tastes lovely as usual, **il mio terrificante cielo nuvoloso**" Renato purred, pressing a kiss to Cherep's warm cheek. Corra stiffled a snort, prompting Cherep's flush to spread to his ears. 

Chere shot his cousin a venomous look, pullig the baked treat closer to himself, "_Asshole, see if I make you any treats again._" He muttered lowly, and Renato supressed his laughter the best he could. He still hadn't had his coffee yet and Cherep wasn't above petty revenge.


	26. Day 26: Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shifter Au

Xanxus woke to familiar the pain of half healed frostbitten skin and a new biting pain from the firey scratches the trash brat had scored in his skin durring their fight. He half expected to wake up in the tender mercies of Vindicare medical wing for bribing the Cervello to rigg the competion in his favor, or because he had stuffed the vongola boss in a untested mechanical suit that ran off someones _lifeforce_. 

Honestly, he probably derserved it for failing to keep Iemitsu's trash spawn's hands off his brother's ring. Losing to a fourteen year old child does not make one quality, Reborn trained or not. _God, he felt pathetic._

"Is he going to be okay, Skull-san?" A familiar voice asked, the trast brat, from outside what sounded like a door. Xanxus moved to sit up, to actually get a good look at his surroundings instead of moping around feelig sorry for himself like trash, only to stop at the red hot pain that shot down his spine. He slowly returned to his reclined postion, remebering then the harsh bite of the trash brat against the back of his neck. A killing blow only softened by the thickness of his coat and the trash brat's reluctance to kill him._ Of course it hadnxt stopped him from scoring his claws aross Xanxus's back when he had the oppertuinity, or from almost gutting him to end their battle. Vicious brat_

Xanxus blinked at the simple celing above him with a frown, noticing the pull of freshly healed kin and subltle pull of stitches under layers of gauze and bandageing. It didn't look like his hotel room either despite his barely there flame awareness of his gaurdians close by. Despite his need to look around more, his neck had almost been broken when the decimo had caught him in his teeth and "He should be cub, his sun gaurdian looked like she knew what she was doing." The cloud arcobaleno said reassuringly, a massive difference from the distached tone Xanxus had heard him use before. 

He heard the soft click of someone turning a doornob, though he couldn't hear their footsteps. He tilted his head over just enough to catch a glance of a helmetless Skull, the trash brat's lower legs and a large black cat with only one eye. He looked up at the celing with a scowl, resigned to whatever the decimo was going to do with him, given that he was at his mercy. "Oh! You're awake," The trash brat cheered softly, kneeling by his head, brown hair and flame bright cat eyes filling his vision. Xanxus longed for his guns, to put a hole in the trash brat's forehead after failing to do so durrig the ring battles. _He wished the brat had put him out of his misery after he trounced him in battle, let him see his brothers again._

Where am I trash?" Xanxus growled, glaring up at the pleased look on Sawada trash's face. He couldn't maintain it after the cat jumped onto his mainly uninjured chest, curling up onto of his sturnum with a heavy purr. He glanced over the black fur taking in the cat's large blue eye, the indigo collar around that peaked from its short fur. It had thin scars over it's back, and a notch in one ear like the alley cats he had seen in his youth. The kid's cat was much healthier though, a healthy weight and thick shiny fur, happier if the purring meant anything. 

"My den, you were very hurt." The brat said, like he wasn't the cause of said hurt. "Hana and Hayato both said we should bring you to the hospital or let Dino-nii take you for healing but the old man and the damned blood relative lesser l-" The kid broke off with a low growl, standing up and away quickly. Xanxus narrowed hie eyes at the kid's sudden change of mood, the whole room flooding with protective sky flames that brushed over him harmlessly. 

He glanced at Skull in question, who had been silent at his side. He shifter smirked st him closed mouth, his ears perked with what on a dog would be excitment. "Didn't I warn you little varia. You lost in a challenge against the ruling shifter. Under shifter law, despite your state of...lack; you, your 'pack members', all of your reasources and property now belong to your pride leader." The wolf said cheerfully, looking all too amused with this. "Just like in the mafia, loser serves winner. Tsuna-kun isn't going to let his new pride mate deal with someone you both have been wounded by in the past. That's bad pack leading 101." 

Xanxus stared at the small bodied wolf shifter, "What." He asked flatly, a sense of horror creepying in under the constant burning anger and the pain. 

Skull smiled with all of his teeth on display, "The Varia is officially a part of the Shifter pack of the Lione Decimo, Xan-kun. Shifter law is absolute." 

Xanxus looked back at the celing, and wondered if this was something better or worse than Vindicare. The trash brat's cat purred harder, and he raised his less injured arm to stroke it. He blamed shark-trash for this, he was supposed to prevent things like this from happening, Dammit.


	27. Day 27: Coat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sentementality au... But with a focus on the fact the soulmate thing is a thing for everyone. 
> 
> People like Tsuna for example....

Tsuna stared at Reborn with something a kin to horror, one hand clenched around his upper arm. He had hoped deep down that his tutor wouldn't ask about it, that he's take Tsuna's infatuation for Kyoko and ignore the fact that Tsuna had a soulmate. _No one wants Dame-Tsuna as a soulmate. Dame is Dame. Uslessuslessuselsss. Weak_. "W-what are you talking about?" He stuttered, looking away from the infant sized hitman. 

The look Reborn shot him made him feel like all of his hair is standing on it's end, and even though Leon is on Reborn's hat it feel like he's staring down the muzzle of a gun. Reborn was not impressed, "You're soulmark, Dame-Tsuna. The one hidden under the bandages on you arm," Reborn said neutrally. " Now that you have the Vongola rings it's important for a mafia boss to find their soulmate early so that no one can use the connection against them. If you put this off someone could pick off your soulmate before you can protect them." 

Tsuna tries for a moment to think about what it would take for someone to kill his soulmate, and can't help but laugh a little hysterically, because he can't. Despite knowing that there are people like Xanxus who are terrifying and strong who still got laid low by someone stronger, he just can't think of something his soulmate couldn't overcome. They were amazing and much stronger than him, _and he was Dame-Tsuna who was a coward and only won against Xanxus because of luck. He wasn't strong, his friends were the amazing ones. He was weak._

Reborn watches him with his calm mask and there's a gleam in his eyes that Tsuna has learned to recognize as dangerous. "So you've met your soulmate before." He said, and Tsuna isn't so surprised that he can't bite back his screech, because Reborn just does things like that. Says all of the things Tsuna tries to his out loud like Tsuna whispered his own darkest secrets in his ear without meaning to. He bites his lip to keep from saying anything or letting his jaw drop open like an idiot, that just annoyed Reborn as much as it amused the sadistic tutor. "But they don't know it yet." 

Tsuna can't help the flinch at Reborn's accusing tone, light as it is. Tsuna is pretty sure his soulmate's mark hadn't been as telling as the one wrapped around his upper arm, given the fact that soul marks tended to favor images associated to the person it represented. His mother had a creamsicle orange coat of arms just under her color bone that Tsuna knew now belonged to the CEDEF where his father headed. Tsuna half feared his would resolve itself into the Vongola crest, despite his vehement denials to belonging to the mafia. _Maybe his soulmate did want him, but couldn't find him. Maybe his soulmate didn't know they had gotten the short weak end of the stick in this soulmate game, maybe they still thought they could love their soulmate._ "No one wants Dame-Tsuna as a soulmate," Tsuna said in the same tone he does when he talked about his loser status, like it was just a fact to be accepted. Facts didn't hurt as much as pretending to be what everyone expected him to be. _DAMEDAMEDAMEUslessWEAK,_. 

He felt more than saw Reborn hitting him with the mallet, the solid thump against the crown of his head making him shriek and curl up to protect himself from more blows. "That is not for you to decide Dame-Tsuna." Reborn stated, with the tone that garnered no rebuke. Tsuna blinked at his Tutor and vaguely he remembered the weekly phone calls Reborn made, the ones spoken softly in italian where his tutor's smile was less of a mask and more of an expression of happiness. The ones to his mysterious soulmate, because Reborn of course already found his one true love, despite being visibly younger than Tsuna. _Though he doubted that more and more with every person that he met with the same pacifier, and because things actually made sense in his head now. Things he noticed before resolving into actual facts and his logic processes actually coming to proper conclusions. Reborn's timeline of acquaintances and his non baby friends didn't make sense if he was actually 1 years old. Babies and children also grew over time Lambo and I-pin did._

"Hieee, Wither way they don't need my protection! They are really strong and can protect themselves!" Tsuna complained, when Reborn looked at him pointedly. "They are one of the strongest people I have ever met!" He pointedly thought about every strong person he had been forced into interacting with since Reborn had crashed into his boring life, just in case there was actually something to the baby hitman's claims to mind reading. Reborn was quiet for a worryingly long moment, the hitman's large dark eyes locked on him. Tsuna kept his hands up around his head in case he decided to utilize the mallet again. 

"What color is your soulmark, Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn asked suddenly, turning away from Tsuna. 

Tsuna blinked, "P-purple? I think?" He stuttered out in surprise, not sure how to take the sudden shift in topic. 

"Your soulmare is Hibari Kyoya." Reborn said with satisfaction, and Tsuna felt his blood run cold. _How!?_ "The most important aspect of Soulmark-soulmate identification in the Cosa Nostra, is that the fact color of your deathsperation flame matches the color of you partner's soulmark, Dame-Tsuna." __

_ _ Tsuna's first thought as he realizes Reborn knows who is soulmate is, is that he wouldn't have to worry about being a mafia boss anymore, because Hibari-senpai was going to kill him when Reborn forced Tsuna to confront the Prefect and no amount of dying will is going to bring him back. _ _

_ _ He just hopes no one fights at his funeral, because then his mother would cry and the least he can give his mother is a nice funeral to mourn her Dame son._ _


	28. Day 28: Ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shifter au, with younger un cursed arcobaleno!

The only reason Skull didn't slam open the door open was because they had managed to do their job without setting off any of the security measures or being seen by anyone other than the people with holes between their eyes. He felt the metal of the door handle crumble in his grip, the urge to shift hard to suppress as he opened the back door. _Dumb wasteful packmate. Arrogant_ He forced himself to breath as he closed the door behind him pointedly, un-clenching his fists. He needed hands and fingers to drive his bike, hands and fingers. 

"What the hell was that, Skull?" Reborn demanded, pushing the door open. Skull couldn't help the low warning growl, his hands clenching around his bike key. The metal edges bite into the leather of his gloves, another reminder to not shift. 

"The Great Skull doesn't know what you're referring to,_Reborn_." He bit out, forcing down the wolf harder. "Was it the fact Skull wouldn't kill some random mafia dude or the fact he- I let the door hit your face just now." He had to give himself another moment to breath, slowly uncurling his hand from around the key before he got on his bike. He didn't want to snap the key in the ignition after all. 

"This was a job, Lackey. We were hired-" Reborn started, an boy did he smell mad. Skull was madder. 

"No, you were hired to kill those people." Skull snarled, chucking the spare helmet at Reborn's head. The hitman caught it with a scowl, giving the plain black helmet a look of distaste. "_You_ brought the Skull for a quick escape. You were the one who tried to make Skull do your job. _I don't like killing, Reborn._" He took his hands off of the handlebars before he crushed them, and he knows his eyes are glowing. 

Reborn scowled at him, taking his hat off in favor of the helmet. The integrated headset crackled to life, and he vividly regrets letting Verde hook up a microphone and receiver in his bike helmets. Deeply truly regrets, fucking hell. "I've seen you rip a man in two with your teeth." Reborn stressed, obviously not seeing the point. Skull can't help the growling sigh he let out, leaning to rest his head against his hands for a moment before he started the bike. It growled to life easily, and he can't help but feel momentarily placated. 

"Skull doesn't kill for money or sport, Reborn. I kill for survival and the survival of my fucking pack." He said in a low rumbling tone that felt more wolf than human, looking straight a the shadowed visor of Reborn's helmet. The hitman tenses like he can tell he's being stared down by a predator instead of a fellow human. "Now, get on the fuckin' bike Reborn." He snapped, looking at the house to see if anyone had noticed the death's yet. He made sure to keep the bike steady when Reborn sat behind him, the hitman a solid line of heat all up against his back. Usually he got some enjoyment from a man as ridiculously attractive as Reborn pressed up against his back with his long fingered hands wrapped around his waist, to say nothing about the humorous image of a man he barely came to the shoulder on clinging to him on his bike, but usually he wasn't one step away from a anger fueled transformation because of the Italian. 

The moment Reborn's more or less settled on the bike Skull kicked the accelerator, and they were off with a roar of the bike's engine and Reborn's muttered _Cazzo_. Reborn doesn't tighten his grip, or really tense against him despite the immediate wild speed they shoot off with, but the fact he swore loud enough for the mic to pick up says more than either of those things ever will. 

The next time someone tried to make Skull go on a solo job with Reborn he's going to tell them to fuck off. He wasn't going to be able to look Reborn without wanting to beat the shit out of him for at least a week. If the hitman's leaves him well enough alone. 

... 

Better make it a month.


	29. Day 29: Injured

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sentimentality Au

Cherep walked into the living room with a first aid kit under the same arm he used to press a ice pack to his eye. Tiny flickers of purple cloud flames were dotted at the edges of a cut that stretched over his squishy cheek and just under his nose. Lal Mirch watched him from her perch on the couch, both of her tiny hands curled around a mug of tea, the purple headed arcobaleno glancing around before looking at her. They look at each other for a moment, orchid eyes meeting wine red as they took each other in. Her familiar, Charon looks up from her sprawl over the couch's back, before dismissing the tiny commander. 

Cherep smiled fiercely, his eyes flashing with satisfaction and his sky flames. "I got into a fist fight with Collonello on Mafia land, and I won." He said brightly. 

Lal spat out her tea, coughing weakly as her body shook with laughter. She could just imagine the look on her pretty boy soulmates face, her poor little sniper attacked hand to hand by the 'weakest' of the Arcobaleno. She put her tea down to make grabby hands at the first aid kit, silently demanding he let her help with his wounds. It makes a tiny part of her happy when he jumped up and handed it over immediately, trusting her to do something he usually only let Reborn do on a regular basis. "It looks like he gave as good as he got," She remarked, tugging his hand away from his eye so she could see the damage. His eye had already darkened to a dark blue and purple black, swollen enough that he kept that eye closed. 

Cherep rolled his good eye with a proud smirk he learned from Reborn, "He got me in the face with that gun of his, so I petrified the inner mechanisms with my sky flames. Idiot didn't even notice till after I broke his nose with my bare hands." He stated, looking satisfied with himself. He held his free hand out to her and he can see why he hadn't used it to hold the first aid kit. "Idiot managed to sprain my wrist tho." 

"You do know that idiot's my soulmate," She said, wrapping some bandages around the limb in question. Cherep gave her a quick smile as he put his ice pack down, poking at his black eye. She slapped his hand away with a warning glare, ignoring his exaggerated pout. 

"Want me to leave him alone?" He asked after a moment of her wrapping his wrist. She gave herself a moment to think about it as she tied it off, she was aware her sky had a bone to pick with her dumbass, mostly over the fact he was why her flames were different. Lal would never be the kind of girl that needed a man to solve her problems, would never want to be, but the though of someone caring enough to do something of the sort for made her feel something close to happy. 

"Nah, he could do with a refresher course on not underestimating his opponent." She decided, "I'd offer to help, but I have to keep up appearances for Vongola." It was tempting, and she was enough of a mist to pull off a disguise for a bit. She had seen Reborn do that on one of Cherep's earlier ventures against Mafia Land to their shared enjoyment and Collonello's annoyance. 

Cherep shrugged one shoulder, twitching away from her cotton ball full of disinfectant as she swiped it at his cut. "Up to you." 

She smiled internally, Cherep has never made her seriously regret agreeing to harmonize. It was nice to deal with someone who understood her after dealing with Iemitsu and the bullshit of the Vongola family.


	30. Day 30: Catch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Shifter AU!

The moment his phone started to buzz pointedly in morse code, _-.-. .-.. --- ..- -.._, he was sorely tempted to chuck the damn thing into the ocean and call it a day. 

He doesn't only because Verde threatened he would drag him away to a living test subject if Collonello trashed another of his phones just to avoid talking to the cloud arcobaleno. Theoretically he could just ignore the call, and the resulting texts but the last time he had ignored him, Skull had came over and gave Collonello a physical reminder why he woke up in a cold sweat sometimes. Apparently, unless he's dead or his phone is on the sea floor, Collonello never has a good enough reason to ignore the stuntman's calls, and he wasn't exactly in danger as a sniper on Mafia land Island. 

"Solider Boy!" Skull greeted cheerfully, "I'm glad to catch you!" 

Colonello frowned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "What do you want, De Mort?" He asked as evenly as he could. Skull barked out a sharp laugh, and Collonello can see the sharp grin in his head and shuddered. 

"What, No hello? So rude. I know for a fact you have better manners than that Collonelo, but The great Skull doesn't care right now." The stuntman said magnanimously, just enough on the patronizing side of respect to make Collonello grit his teeth. He isn't sure if Reborn learned it from Skull or vise-versa but they both had that air of 'I'm better than you' that they pull whenever they talk down to him. "I have come into some valuable info regarding Mafia Land." 

Colonello sighs in resignation, already having a good idea where this was going. "What do you want, Kora." He asked. Collonello's favorite thing about the Stuntman, one of very few things, was the fact Skull was always straight forwards with his intentions. 

"8 hours of uninterrupted time at the reserve with one other person. Just Skull and my guest." Skull said flat out, a tone that had cowed weaker men in the past, but despite his _healthy_ fear of the shifter, wasn't him. 

"Hell no. The reserve is still off limits to everyone except for you and the caretakers." Collonello stated firmly. The Vongola flame animal reserve was full of flame capable animals, and none of them were particularly friendly with humans. They didn't even show their caretakers any degree of fondness, a group of mostly lightnings and rain users capable of both subduing and taking hits from the animals in question. Skull was the only person who could even get close and that was because they same him as their kind. 

"What if I told you they were just like the great skull?" Skull ventured testily, "Then could they come with me." 

Collonello gave that though the quiet moment of horror it deserved before he forced it into the same box he kept all of his pre-fated day memories with Skull De Mort, only to be accessed by his subconscious in his nightmares and stranger dreams. "Depends, what's your info?" He asked when he felt sure his voice wouldn't crack or waver. Skull only found it funny when he got choked up with fear talking to him, which considering he had been a fully trained special forces operative afraid of someone who really hadn't done anything to him in years made sense. _Did it count as irrational fear or smart living at this point in their relationship?_

Skull cackled like he didn't who the affect he had on normal people after meeting him, "Someone let it leak that Vongola's last heir was going to be on Mafia land in a week. Some of the less reputable familias are apparently considering testing Mafia land's defenses." Skull said blithely, and Collonello can hear the grin. Collonello groans internally when he thinks about all of the paperwork built up after an invasion attempt that he would have to sign off on as Island Guardian. He also knew that Skull only cared because he denned down on the island whenever he was feeling particularly cloudy and considered the entire island his territory. _Wheather it was a consequence of him becoming Island guardian or Skull taking advantage of being the strongest shifter to ever join the mafia he hadn't figured out. Yet._

"Do I want to know how you know Vongola's heir apparent is coming to a visit?" He asked grumpily, hitting his head against the closest wall. Sometimes he wondered if Skull managed to convince Verde to clone his phone as well as change all of his ring tones. He wouldn't put it past the stuntman with his mild stalker tendencies he always waved away as checking up on his pack for how he knew Reborn had texted him about the visit. 

"Oh! Reborn hired me as an assistant teacher for the heir apparent!" Skull enthused, sounding ridiculously pleased about Reborn asking for help. Colonello had a sneaking suspiosn about who exactly Skull wanted to drag into the reserve. "The heir is a flame animal shifter like the great Skull!" 

"You know what." Colonello said almost cheerfully, turning back towards his office. "If you can convince Reborn to let you take his student into the reserve you can spend the whole trip there." Far away from Colonello and any invasion that followed. The less Skull was around to _help_ the better. He would start the paperwork in advance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclosure. Collonello is somewhere between a older adolescent and a competent protector of Skull's territory to Skull's wolf brain so half the time he treats him like a kid and half treats him like an competent adult. Like an older sibling, because despite Skull's youthful appearance and disregard for maturity he's deffinantly older than the rain.


	31. Day 31: Ripe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shifter au & Sentementality au...AU
> 
> This is fun, but they're not going to be meeting their strange alternate reality twins in Lione Decimo.

"Y'know," A familiar voice drawled as the pale _orange_ smoke started to fade revealing a man who could pass for his soulmates twin, same posture and they both had a leon, who had his hand on the collars of a large purple wolf and an adolescent Lion with a the beginnings of a mane. Cherep noted with faint disbelief that firstly that the stupid gun had worked without swapping anyone, but mostly that both animals seemed to be flickering with dying will flames like a box animal. "I don't think this is what Skull meant by an exciting Halloween. Skull de Mort I presume?" The man, Renato's alternate, tilted his head in his direction. The Wolf at his side made a huffing sound as it nudged the probable hitman, ears twitching back with annoyance. 

Cherep couldn't stop himself blinking in surprise, shaking his head, "Cherep Tusha, of the Caracassa Familia. Skull was my cover." He corrected, and he tried contemplate what exactly that would look like, being the pure civilian cloud he played at during the missions. He made a face at the thought to his soulmate's amusement if the smothered snicker meant anything. He refocused on their temporary visitors, looking over the strangely flame capable animals who had relaxed at the alternates side. 

The alternate Reborn looked contemplative, if a tad surprised. He looked them over with a calculating gaze, looking over the white testing chamber they had been herded into by a bright eyed Verde and Shoichi. "An alternate universe then. Someone messed with the Ten year bazooka, again." The Hitman summarized with an amused smile. "Same Time limit?" 

"So we assume." Renato confirmed, "It was the only thing they hadn't messed with." Cherep snorted wryly, remembering the jabbered explanation Verde had given him. 

Tsunayoshi, the original target of the experimental ammunition had looked between the two Reborn's with something like horror, orange sparks flickering in the brown of his eyes. "Hie, if the bazooka worked where's alternate me and Cherep-san?" Tsunayoshi blurted with a panicked twitch when everyone looked at him. Cherep gave him props for noticing the same irregularity he had. The animal's could be explained away with the fact alternate Reborn had his hands on them, but it didn't feel quite right. The lion met his gaze for a moment, tilitling it's head to the side with a look that could almost be considering. 

Reborn smirked at Tsunayoshi in a way that promiced to be interesting, "Does your world not have shifters in it?" He asked pointedly neutral, a tone ruined by the look on his face. Cherep knew it vividly as the Sinclair "I know something you don't and I'm going to enjoy you're reaction when I tell you" face. _It was a face only a select number of people would be able to read on the 'constantly amused at you expense' that is Reborn's pokerface. _

"Shifters?" Tsunayoshi asked, taking the bait Cherep couldn't bring himself to. 

Reborn smirked and pulled off his suit jacket, "Animal shifter. It is heavily debated whether they are a subspecies of Homo-sapiens or whether they just evolved to be capble of procreating with humanity but most know them as humans with the ability-" He was cut off as the Purple wolf at his side flares with cloud flames and changes before their eyes into what could only be Cherep's alternate, identical save for a slight difference in eye color and the fact he didn't have a soul mark. Reborn paused to swing his coat over the Cloud's shoulders to allow the man a bit of privacy considering he was naked save for the purple collar. The only reason the coat covered anything was for the fact Skull only just came up to the hitman's chin. Tsunayoshi squeaked and looked pointedly anywhere but the half naked stuntman. 

"To change into animals. Nice to meet you other me!" Skull finished with a sharp smile that gave Cherep the distinct feeling of being hunted, like staring down a predator. It was rather unpleasent, and Cherep had to suppress his urge to pull of his side arm. An urge helped when the lion chirped, prompting Skull to drop the gaze in favor of rubbing the large cat's cheeks affectionately. 

Tsunayoshi squeaked suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Hie! Does that mean the Lion is alternate me?!" He said a tad hysterically, staring at the lion with wide eyes. 

Renato looked tempted to force his student to do remedial training to quash Tsuna's rather unfortunate habit of blurting out his realizations, and Cherep glanced at his watch to see they had maybe a few more seconds before the ammunition wore off. 

"In our universe, you, me, Kyo-kun, and Chrome-chan are all shifters, Sawada-san." Skull said distractedly, his focus on petting the lion version of the decimo. Cherep could see Tsunayoshi mouthing Kyo-kun to himself with disbelief out of the corner of his eye. 

"But no soulmarks it appears," Renato noted idly, obviously having noticed the same thing as Cherep. Tsunayoshi looked a bit horrified, which considering the cultural backlash for not having a soulmark, was more than understandable. 

Reborn blinked once, glancing between Cherep and Renato with a new understanding in his eyes. "As in Soulmates?" He asked in clarification. Skull glanced up with a look of realization, looking between the two of them with the beginnings of a blush on his face. 

"That's why you two smell so similar!" He exclaimed, startling Cherep a but with how loud the stuntman was. "Like Skull has noticed that long time partners sometimes share scent aspects but you two have the same _base scent_. Like a pack smell but only for you two. Like you both kinda smell like us but instead of the wolf smell you both-." Reborn cut the wolf off with a hand over the stuntman's mouth, looking irritated. Skull gave what could only be a warning look, eyes narrowed in a way Cherep recognized from passing glances durring battle. The two of them held a small battle of wills, wild bright purple meeting near impossibly dark, and Cherep could swear the lion was laughing at the two of them. 

All too sudden pale orange clouds engulfed the three and the experiment chamber was silent, save for Tsunayoshi's relived exhale. Cherep looked at his lover who met his gaze with bemusement. He reached forwards, happy when Renato pulled him into an embrace that let him put his head on his lover's shoulder. "Let's not do that again." He said, tugging pointedly on his bond with Verde. The door to the observation chamber opened quickly. 

"Agreed!" Tsunayoshi squeaked! 

"Not for a while." Renato assured, pressing a kiss to Cherep's temple. They both opted to ignore Tsunayoshi's exaggerated gagging noises, the brat. 


End file.
